If elected in August, Kenyan Vice President William Ruto has announced that he will fire Chinese who hold jobs that Kenyans can do.
"Chinese citizens are roasting corn and selling mobile phones... We will send them all back to their country... All these businesses are for Kenyans," Ruto said.
He added, during an economic forum the day before yesterday, Tuesday, "Don't worry about the foreigners doing this business. We have enough planes to deport them."
Agence France-Presse said the Chinese embassy in Nairobi did not respond to a request for comment on the comments.
The presidential, legislative and local elections will be held on the ninth of next August, at a time when the largest economy in East Africa is facing challenges arising from the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
William Ruto, 55, is running for the presidency of Kenya, which is currently held by President Uhuru Kenyatta, who cannot run for a third term.
Ruto is critical of President Kenyatta over his economic policies, and has vowed to cancel the country's debt, estimated at nearly $70 billion, if he wins the election.
China is Kenya's second largest creditor after the World Bank, and has financed many infrastructure projects.
Beijing has loaned Kenya $ 5 billion to implement the most expensive infrastructure project since the country's independence in 1963, a train line that has linked the coastal city of Mombasa since 2017 to the city of Naivasha in the Rift Valley region through the capital, Nairobi.
These investments were often accompanied by the arrival of Chinese workers.