Africans, including local Kenyans are not free to dine in a restaurant located in their own land after 5pm, except they are accompanied by Chinese, European or Indian patrons.
Reporters of Daily Nation, who visited the eating house located in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, at 7pm were told by a guard in Swahili that the time for Africans was over. The policy, according to representatives of the restaurants, was put in place last year after armed gunmen robbed the restaurant and some diners.
“We don’t admit Africans that we don’t know because you never know who is Al-Shabaab and who isn’t,” said Esther Zhao, the relations manager of the restaurant known simply as Chinese Restaurant, who said the restaurant stands by its strict policy of not admitting Africans after 5pm. “The Chinese people who stay here or come to dine want to feel safe.”
However, not all Africans are locked out after 5pm; a few “loyal” African patrons are allowed in. The management of the restaurant considers an African “loyal” after they must have spent Sh20,000 ($218) over a specified period.
Angered by the policy, which he calls racial profiling, a Kenyan government official said: “Whatever measures they choose to take to maintain security must be measures that treat people equally irrespective of race, gender or colour”.
The development lays credence to suggestions of critical issues rooted in China’s African presence, which has been linked to a looming form of imperialism. The Asian country is Africa’s largest trading partner with close to $200 billion in trade annually. Bilateral trade volume between China and Kenya rose by 53 percent in 2014. In the last decade, China has funded more than 80 development projects in Kenya. It is now the East African nation’s largest trading partner. But China’s relationship with Africa seems to be only focused on what it can get. Chinese treatment of African migrants has often been criticised, what no one would expect is that a similar treatment will be handed to them on their home turf.
Actions are expected to be taken to address the Chinese Restaurant issue, but nothing is expected to change in terms of economic ties which was deepened between the two countries over last year. During the visit of Premier Li Keqiang, he signed over 20 cooperation agreements with Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta on behalf of his country.
