KENYA: MPs probe 10km border fence that cost $35m
Kenyan MPs have asked how a 10km wire fence built along the country’s border with Somalia cost $35 million. The government had originally promised to build a complex wall to run about 700km (435 miles) along the border. But the “wall”, which was meant to stop al-Shabab militants from crossing into Kenya, has ended up […]
KENYA: MPs probe 10km border fence that cost $35m
Kenyan MPs have asked how a 10km wire fence built along the country’s border with Somalia cost $35 million.
The government had originally promised to build a complex wall to run about 700km (435 miles) along the border.
But the “wall”, which was meant to stop al-Shabab militants from crossing into Kenya, has ended up being a wire fence that is only 10km long.
Kenya’s parliament has now suspended construction, and is demanding an investigation into the project.
When the plan was first announced in 2014, the government said it would build a 708km wall made up of a series of concrete barriers, fences, ditches, and observation posts overlooked by CCTV stations.
Under this plan, the wall was meant to stretch from the Indian Ocean all the way to the border region of Mandera, where Kenya and Somalia meet Ethiopia.