Episode 1: Tanzanite Deals, Gikomba, and Bribes
** watch the video below
As I gazed out of my window eating my Chino-Kenyan breakfast, a man in an immaculate, gold-embroidered, thwab strolled up to the outdoor patio and took a seat. Moments later, a woman rushed out from one of the hotel’s inner offices. They greeted each other with a polite handshake and promptly got to business.
The man produced a small pouch that he tipped over lightly, sending a waterfall of dusty-purple gems onto the table. Tanzanite.
Though muted now, once refined, Tanzanite becomes a vibrant blue.
The woman pulled out a small light and inspected a few of the gems carefully. She asked the man a question, to which he seemed to respond with the confidence of a practiced trader.
After a brief pause, the buyer handed over a stack of 1,000 shilling bills. The trader counted them out, and for the first time, the pair smiled. Deal complete, the two relaxed, sat back and leaned joyfully into their “shared future”.
The next day, as I sat in the outdoor patio working on an upcoming story, my ears perked up to the sound of an older Chinese man speaking in a mixture of Swahili and English. He accompanied by a younger Kenyan man and his older companion.
“Where’s my daughter?” the older Kenyan man asked. The Chinese man seemed confused. He explained, “Your daughter is my daughter, where is she today?”. Understanding, he laughed and replied, “she is away today”.
The three then launched into furtive conversation, the youngest of the group leading the charge. In Chinese, he began “we need to construct the bookstore soon”. The Chinese man then piped up, “we cannot make the same mistakes as last time”. With an urgency that didn’t seem to match the task at hand.
For the past two weeks, these moments, conversations overheard and brief exchanges witnessed outside of windows, have come to characterize the China-Africa relationships that I now know.
I’d imagined, in coming here, I’d bear witness to high-level discussions, struggles for power, and debates about the future of the growing topic that was China-Africa. Although these situations have occurred, most of my time has been characterized by deals struck over Kenyan tea and samosas on sunny afternoons.
Before coming to Kenya I’d scoured Chinese and East African media for the two sides perceptions of one another. Much of what I’d found was highly academic, with titles to the tone of “The Red Dragon in The Silicon Savannah”, long papers spouting development theory and political science, waxing about a future defined by agreements forged between governments at month-long meetings.
But, what I’d witnessed in flesh and blood painted a picture of a situation that was finally gathering popular notice, but had been bubbling under the surface for those on the ground for quite some time.
“The Chinese. Do you know they're in Gikomba now?” said a Kenyan man around my age that I’d fallen into a conversation with at the bar. “They take over everything”.
At breakfast, one morning, a man from Heilongjiang plopped down at my table. He immediately launched into conversation, first asking me where I was from. After discovering that I could speak Chinese he began to discuss the particulars of living in Kenya with me.
“Kenya is great,” He said. “I’ve lived here for ten years, it’s pretty safe”.
He then proudly pulled out his license and resident’s card. “I’ve had to pay a lot of taxes though and a few bribes”. He shrugged. “Unfortunately business hasn’t been great lately.” When asked why he gave the reply that everyone seemed to give, “corruption”.
What I learned:
- Corruption affects everyone. Both sides (Chinese and Kenyan) actively seek ways to deal with corruption. This is, in many ways, strengthening the relationship between Kenyan and Chinese business persons as Kenyans look for ways to access new markets for growth and circumvent corruption at home
- The concerns of citizens that interact with one another on the ground differ from those of powers that be in both China and Africa.
- Business collaborations are good and welcome, as long they do not interfere with the final point of sale (B to C).
- There is a distinct divide between “newcomers” from China and the “old school” Chinese immigrants who have been here for years. The old school tends to keep the new school at a distance
- Tanzanite is a large and growing business for China-Africa
Watch the video and explanation here:
