The Belt and Road Initiative Developmental Discourse in African Media: Kenya and Ghana in Comparative Perspective 2013–2020

The role of China in Africa’s infrastructure development space has attracted divergent views. The role of local media in this arena has been under-explored, particularly in comparative perspective. This is in spite of the crucial and often powerful position enjoyed by the media in shaping popular understandings of development and international discourses, of which the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a leading exemplar in contemporary times. Additionally, China has made considerable investment into managing its perception. This chapter thus sheds light on how the print and online news media (Daily Nation Business Daily and Standard) have covered China’s engagement with Africa in infrastructure cooperation under the ambit of the BRI using the cases of Ghana and Kenya to examine how the media has covered the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) and the Bui Dam projects, respectively. What narratives are being driven by the media in the coverage of the two projects and whether China’s involvement in Kenya and Ghana with regards to the two projects has been mutually beneficial? The study finds that generally infrastructure cooperation between the two countries and China is welcomed. There is an indication that the cooperation has been mutually beneficial. However, issues such as environmental sustainability, debt burden, and displacement of communities, among others, have challenged the win-win narrative underpinning China’s relations with the two countries.