to unexpectedly low usage. In response, the Kenyan government has had to regularly raise prices of the railway, which has in turn reduced usage of the railway in terms of both passengers and cargo. Subsequently, China declined to provide the additional $3.6 billion loan necessary to complete the second section of the railway. In 2018, a document allegedly leaked from the Auditor-General's office showed that, in order to secure loans related to SGR in 2013, the government had collateralized Kenyan assets to the China Export-Import Bank, including the Mombasa port and Inland Container Depot in Nairobi. If the railway fails to attract a pre-specified quantity of cargo, the contract would allow the China Export-Import Bank to claim the port's sovereignty as principle. While the Auditor-General, Edward Ouko, has declined to confirm or deny the authenticity of the report, the President Uhuru Kenyatta, the national Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani, and Transport and Infrastructure Cabinet Secretary Brian Kamau have all dismissed the report as a fabrication. The authenticity of the document remains unconfirmed, and the National Assembly's Public Investments Committee is currently conducting an investigation into the matter. In addition to the Mombasa port, Kenya could also be made to give China control of the Inland Container Depot in Nairobi. Debt-trap diplomacy criticisms Local news outlets and external analysts have frequently analogized the collateralization of the Mombasa port to the Sri Lankan Hambantota International Port, in which Sri Lanka ceded the port to China in order to repay its loans. This comparison fits into a broader accusation of the PRC's "debt-trap" diplomacy, which some analysts label as a form of neocolonialism. Specifically, the Daily Nation and the Standard, two major Kenyan news companies, have numerous articles centred on the theme of debt-trap diplomacy, and the Kenyan public is generally more critical of Chinese mega-projects than the government. Some critics also posit that it fits into a larger trend of Chinese loans in Africa. For example, Djibouti might also allegedly cede its port to China with its extreme levels of debt, Zambia could similarly cede its national broadcasting network and its Lusaka International Airport, and Tanzania has compounded its already substantial debt to Beijing with the $10 billion needed for the Bagamoyo port. However, other analysts also emphasize that there is no "one-size-fits-all" understanding of all African countries, pointing to South Africa and Nigeria as examples of countries that successfully leveraged Chinese