Implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in the Waves of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Kenya: An Exploration of the Perceptions of Social Media Users

Introduction

In recent years, the world has experienced a new type of respiratory infection. This infection was reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) on December 31st, 2019 (WHO, 2020). The outbreak, which was purportedly local and limited to one of China’s cities, Wuhan, was expected by many to be contained and short-lived. Initially, concerns about its latent pandemic potential were dismissed by different quarters. It has been established that the disease is far from insignificant to the media and the majority of people worldwide (Shimizu, 2020). On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared that COVID-19 was a global pandemic spreading across the globe with high infection rates and a perturbing death toll in many countries. To stop the virus from spreading, the affected countries imposed severe restrictions on transportation, trade, and public life (Boberg et al., 2020). In this light, the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the nature, scope, and pace of China’s Belt and Road initiative (BRI) activities in Africa (ISSAfrica.org 2020; Taylor, 2020; Wafula, 2021; Lew et al., 2021; Baker McKenzie, 2020). There are scholars, Chowdhury et al., (2020), for instance, have been a restoration of global policy with Ubuntu Philosophy. This multi-billion-dollar project links Asia, Europe, and Africa with massive logistics and transport networks. The initiative aims to promote sustainable development, trade, and culture among the 65 countries worldwide (Taylor, 2020). The goal of this project is to increase investment in the world's second largest economy-China, as well as to create and influence trade links with the rest of the world (Lew et al., 2021; Vaidyanathan, 2019). Its goals are not limited to promoting policy coordination, financial integration, and unrestricted trade, but also people-to-people cooperation. BRI is involved in mega-projects around the globe and Kenya in particular (Were, 2018). According to the Task Force Report (2021), the pandemic “has revealed the flaws of China's BRI model, forcing a reckoning with concerns that many BRI projects are not economically viable and elevating debt sustainability questions” (Lew et al., 2021). Another issue regarding the execution of the BRI project has emerged in connection with the global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Kenya, for example, is seeing a variety of repercussions from the COVID-19 pandemic on its Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), which is one of the BRI projects. The SGR project is viewed as a vehicle for double-digit economic growth in Kenya and East Africa in general (Gu & Qiu, 2019). On the other hand, infrastructure and transport are the prerequisites for achieving the development of socio-economic growth. The current SGR development originated as a unifying agent in the East African region (Taylor 2020). Therefore, it is a tool to enhance harmony and weld interdependence in East Africa while minimizing possible conflicts.

On April 6, 2020, the Kenyan government banned all movement by rail, road, or air inside and outside of Nairobi, the capital city. The strategy was to contain the possible spread of the COVID-19 pandemic to other areas in Kenya. International significant players have criticized the overall implementation of the SGR project. Some of these commentators have argued that the project is meant to change the current global world order (Baker McKenzie, 2019). This is perceived to be west-centric (Lew et al., 2021). Others have felt that the project presents a substantial opportunity for economic and social integration in the implementing countries (White, 2017).