- The first case was filed by the Kenya Human Rights Commission and the Law Society of Kenya before a different division.
- Orders were issued by Justice John Chigiti suspending the plans to alienate the airport and a date was set for a hearing.
Journalist Tony Gachoka and Mount Kenya Jurist have joined the list of those challenging the proposed plans to lease the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) to Indian conglomerate Adani Group for 30 years.
The case by the two is the second one filed this week before the Milimani Law Courts.
The first case was filed by the Kenya Human Rights Commission and the Law Society of Kenya before a different division.
Orders were issued by Justice John Chigiti suspending the plans to alienate the airport and a date was set for a hearing.
They argued that the alleged deal violated principles of good governance and prudent and responsible use of money.
Gachoka and Mount Kenya Jurist on the other hand argue that the whole process regarding the JKIA-Adani deal is tainted with illegalities.
Through advocate Ndegwa Njiru, the duo argue that the takeover or the proposed alienation was never subjected to the mandatory public participation yet it involves a strategic national asset.
Those sued in the case are Adani Group, Managing Director, Henry Ogoye Kenya Ports Authority, CS Treasury John Mbadi, CS Transport Davis Chirchir and the Attorney General.
Kenya Civil Aviation Authority, Kenya Aviation Workers Union and Kenya Airline Pilots Association have been listed as interested parties in the case.
Njiru in his papers says Ogoye, Mbadi and Chirchir have or are about to sign a concealed concession agreement with the Adani Group for the alleged unlawful alienation of the Airport for a period of 30 years.
Njiru terms the agreement as ‘a dubious guarded private-public partnership deal that has been kept away from the reach of Kenyans’.
He says unless the courts intervene, the assets will be unlawfully alienated in favour of the Adani group.
He wants the court to issue an order stopping the signing of any agreement that may facilitate the alienation of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and the implementation of the concession agreement between Adani and Ogoye.
Also sought is an order that the matter be certified as raising weighty legal issues and the same be remitted to the Chief Justice to constitute an uneven number of Judges for hearing and determination of the petition.
According to the court documents, the Adani group has already conducted a feasibility study to acquire the airport for 30 years.
But the petitioners fault the state for violating the constitution saying the provisions laid down in the public-private partnership act were overlooked.
Gachoka argues that section 3 of the Public-Private Partnership Act does not contemplate a scenario where the government would alienate the already existing project in favour of a private citizen.
"The government failed to apply the law so that they could compromise the accountability and transparency standards," read their documents in part.
"The applications of the Public Private Partnership (PPA)Act 2022 and the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act (PPAD), must clearly be set apart so that the government does not apply them whimsically," they added.
Ndegwa says the PPP Act must remain applicable to projects undertaken by private investors and the PPAD Act for disposal of public assets, but not for the two to be applied alternately.