Maintaining your sanity as a Kenyan often feels like a Herculean task. My mind has been greatly troubled lately by the proposed expansion and upgrading of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport using Sh238 billion in concession funds from Adani Group.
The question of whether Kenya should cede control of its most important airport to a foreign conglomerate should concern all of us. It suggests that some of our leaders are willing to mortgage the country’s future for short-term gains. The government is championing the deal as a solution to Kenya’s airport infrastructure needs but the truth is far more concerning.
While there is no doubt that Nairobi needs another airport, the current proposal is misguided. Across the world, countries follow the build-operate-transfer model when partnering with private firms to construct new infrastructure. In Turkey, for example, Istanbul’s new airport was built under a BOT agreement, but the facility did not exist prior to the partnership.
The Adani Group, for its part, does not inspire confidence. The conglomerate has been embroiled in a host of corruption scandals, in India and internationally.
In 2014, India’s Directorate of Revenue Intelligence accused Adani of inflating coal import invoices by hundreds of millions of dollars in a tax evasion scheme. Earlier this year, the much-publicised Hindenburg report accused the Adani Group of stock manipulation, accounting fraud, and maintaining complex corporate structures to obscure financial dealings.
This pattern of shady business practices raises serious concerns about whether Adani is the right partner for Kenya. The last thing we need is a foreign corporation with a history of questionable practices managing one of our most critical pieces of infrastructure.
But the problem with the proposed JKIA takeover runs deeper than just Adani’s track record. The plan also bears all the hallmarks of a cash grab orchestrated by a well-connected cabal with ties to high places.
Kenyans need only look to the Nairobi Expressway as a cautionary tale. Built through a BOT model, it has burdened citizens with exorbitant toll fees. With over 72,000 cars using the expressway daily at around Sh340 each, the immense revenue is funnelled through a single financial institution with influential ownership.
Having investigated it myself, I can assure my fellow citizens that looking behind the corporate veil will leave you stunned and reinforce the growing lament that “there’s no country here.” Given the time-bound concession and its clear profitability, one must question the logic behind former Roads CS Kipchumba Murkomen’s decision to hike toll charges earlier this year.
There is also the matter of national security. Handing control of such a strategic piece of infrastructure to a foreign company jeopardises our ability to protect our borders. Airports are gateways to the world and their management should remain firmly in Kenyan hands. Moreover, the Adani concession threatens thousands of jobs. Many Kenyans, from airport staff to local suppliers, depend on JKIA for their livelihoods.
The groundwork for the current issues was laid by the National Assembly and Executive at the dawn of devolution, whose legislative failures paved the way for the ongoing shenanigans. The roots of this issue can be traced back to 2014, when the Public Finance Management Act was amended to give the Cabinet Secretary for Finance sweeping powers to negotiate deals. This amendment cleared the path for backroom deals, where rent-seeking agents, like the one in this case, are paid directly by the Treasury CS, bypassing parliamentary approval.
If the Adani Group has $1.85 billion burning a hole in its pocket, let them invest in a brand-new facility located 50 kilometres (or thereabouts) outside Nairobi. As for renovating JKIA, as I tweeted last Friday, this is a matter of national pride and every sensible Kenyan should step up: 'Let's donate $2 billion to the Kenyan government for JKIA. We don’t need the corrupt Adani Group.'
All said, this entire situation is a symptom of a larger problem; the steady erosion of public oversight. Unless the PFM Act is amended to fix this mischief, the danger here is that these deals made in backrooms far from the eyes of Kenyans will keep materialising. This is no way to run a country and risks sparking the kind of Gen Z-led protests we saw during the uproar over the Finance Bill.
