Editor's Review

Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has left the country for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where he will attend a LAPSSET Corridor Ministerial meeting.

Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has left the country for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where he will attend a LAPSSET Corridor Ministerial meeting.

This comes just a day after he joined President Uhuru Kenyatta in Naivasha where they watched the closing stage of the WRC Safari Rally which was won by Frenchman Sebastien Ogier.

Former Raila Odinga/ Photo Courtesy

"I'm in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for the Lapsset Corridor Ministerial Meeting that brings together stakeholders from the various relevant departments in the region to review the project's progress," Raila Odinga wrote on his Twitter page.

Raila Odinga is the African Union High Representative for Infrastructure Development, a position he was appointed to in October 2018 by African Union Chairman Moussa Faki.

Lamu Port, South Sudan, Ethiopian Transport (LAPSSET) is a regional infrastructural project running from the new port in Lamu northwards towards the landlocked nations of Ethiopia, Uganda and South Sudan.

The megaproject is estimated to cost over $ 24 billion and will include the $5 billion 32 berth Lamu port, a railway, highways, fibre optic cables and a crude oil pipeline.

On 20th May 2021, President Uhuru Kenyatta commissioned the first berth at the Lamu port that had been built with Chinese funding.

Speaking during the event, President Kenyatta hailed the port as a critical pillar of the LAPSSET project.

“In the next phase of LAPSSET, Lamu Port and Northern Kenya will be connected by rail and pipeline links, which will eventually reach Ethiopia, South Sudan and other regional states, with the final stop being Dakar in Senegal," he said.