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Chinas heightened presence in Africa is arguably the most momentous development on the continent today.Its resurgence in Africa is partly the result of Chinas growing global reach and also driven by Chinas interests in Africas rich natural resource as a base to fuel its surging economy.China influence on the world has increased particularly in the wake of the 21st century to the extent that it is difficult to talk about development issues or even global politics without some reference to China entering in the analysis.Chinas deepening involvement across Africa has become the subject of much debate amongst scholars, policy makers and the media.There are principally two sides of the debate which subjectively and narrowly characterize Chinas behavior in Africa as either intrinsically good or bad.One side of the debate is skeptical about the Chinese presence on the African continent.They argue that Chinese presence on the African continent is a ‘threatnot only to African interests, but also to Western policies and interests.This discourse is partly about how Chinas presence is a "bad influence" on governance in Africa.A concomitant idea is that Chinas activities obstruct Africas development.The other side of the debate is chiefly on the defensive, countering Western criticism of Chinese presence in Africa by contending that Chinas engagement in the continent is benign and does not threaten Africas development ventures.Instead China engagement in the continent has improved Africa development status.This study contends that the way the debate is dichotomized inevitably masks the African voice.The African voice is a vital component missing in the debate, resulting in an impoverished debate.How Africans are defining their engagement with China from their own experiences with Chinese multifaceted presence on the continent should form the core of the debate.After thorough examination and analysis of available data and scholarly literature while employing realism and social constructivism theoretical frameworks and Kenya as the object of study the research concludes that the African voice(s) harbors mixed perceptions towards Chinese presence in their respective countries.