Police probe missing China computer donations to MPs

Mystery surrounds the disappearance of computers and projectors donated by China to Kenya’s Parliament after being loaded on to a shipping container.

Kenyan police have begun an investigation into the disappearance of the electronic equipment after a container with the kits arrived empty this week at the National Assembly.

The probe started amid talk that the the laptops were confiscated by security agencies to determine if the consignment was safe for use and were bug-free.

According to the China embassy, the consignment was duly dispatched and was expected to be delivered to Parliament in July this year.

It is not yet clear whether the equipment was removed from the container before the shipment arrived in Kenya, or after it had landed in the country.

Last evening, a spokesperson at the logistics company hired to ferry the “friendship” container, Ballore Africa Transport and Logistics Company, said the firm will issue a statement on the missing computers.

Last year, the Chinese fought back claims of bugging at the African Union headquarters they helped built.

Questions were being asked if it was right for Kenya Parliament to accept a donation of computers from China.

French newspaper Le Monde had reported that Chinese officials had placed wire taps inside the $200 million building, listening in to conversations on key decisions of the continental body.

Both China and AU dismissed the report. The Chinese installed the computer system in use in the building, all part of a donation to strengthen Sino-Africa ties. Both China and the AU dismissed the report as malicious.

In Kenya, the Chinese argued the computer donation was as “a gesture of friendship” and is meant to help improve the work of a key government body, part of the cooperation on political ties the two countries signed in 2015.

The donation of 46 laptops, five cameras and projectors as well as other assorted items had been part of a pledge by Mr Cao Jianming, the Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) of China.

And as part of fledgling political relations between the two countries, Mr Cao who became the third senior Chinese parliamentary official to visit Kenya in five years had asked the Chinese Embassy to facilitate the delivery of the goods.