Applause and standing ovations
on Thursday greeted President William Ruto’s directive that the ministries
responsible immediately cancel all deals with the Indian-based Adani Group.
The President, in his second State of the Nation address in Parliament since coming to power in September
2022, said new evidence has emerged linking the Indian conglomerate to
corruption.
As such, the head of state directed the ministries of Transport and Petroleum to forthwith cancel all signed and impending deals with the company on the takeover of JKIA and Ketraco respectively.
"Honourable members, I
have stated in the past and now reiterate today that in the face of undisputed
evidence or credible information on corruption I will not hesitate to take
decisive action,” Ruto said.
"Accordingly, I now
direct, in furtherance of principles enshrined in Article 10 of the
constitution on transparency and accountability and based on new information
provided by investigative agencies and partner nations, that the procuring
agencies in the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum,
immediately cancel the ongoing procurement process for the JKIA expansion
private-public-partnership.”
The President directed the
ministries concerned to "immediately begin the process of onboarding new
partners because these are important projects”.
The development came hours after
news broke that the US had charged billionaire owner of the controversial
company, Gautam Adani, with fraud.
He, prosecutors claimed,
together with other senior executives, bribed Indian officials to win contracts
for his renewable energy company expected to yield more than $2bn in profits
over 20 years.
Adani denied the allegations
and vowed to appeal, terming the allegations "baseless"
News of Ruto’s decision
triggered a chain of reactions from politicians and Kenyans at large, with
Wiper party leader Kalonzo Musyoka asking the President to go further and
cancel all Adani involvement in the Social Health Authority rollout.
The Social Health Authority
(SHA) has been mandated to manage the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF), which
replaced the defunct National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF).
"It is not enough to cancel
the Adani Group
deals in JKIA and Ketraco; Adani is also in SHA/SHIF. Ruto should also cancel
this deal immediately,” Kalonzo said on his X feed.
Transition from NHIF to SHIF
was effected on October 1, with the new fund expected to raise Sh148 billion
annually through member contributions determined by means-testing instruments
for those without formal employment.
Three consortiums, led by
Safaricom, have been mandated to develop a new healthcare information
management system—an integrated healthcare information technology system (IHTS)
at a cost of Sh104 billion recoverable over a period of ten years.
The other two are Konvergenz
Network Solutions Limited and Apeiro Limited, an Adani Group subsidiary.
Despite Ruto’s cancellation
of the Adani deals, Kalonzo said they would be back in court to demand
accountability on the side of those involved.
"On November 27, we will
appear in court on behalf of the Kenyan people regarding JKIA, demanding strict
accountability and transparency on these Adani deals,” he said.
Speaking outside Parliament shortly after Ruto’s directive, National Treasury CS John Mbadi said none of the Adani
deals had be concluded as they were all still undergoing the procurement process.
Mbadi said the PPP Act 2021
provides for four procurement methods, namely competitive bidding, direct
procurement, restricted bidding and privately initiated proposals (PIP).
He said all the Adani deals
were under PIP and can be cancelled at any time without legal repercussions.
“The negotiations had not even began, for JKIA, we were still doing due diligence. So to me, it’s timely. It’s stopped at a time when we don’t have any legal challenges and we have done due diligence on our part and the report from our partners is that there are a lot of questions around the procurement method,” he said.
