President William Ruto has ordered the immediate cancellation of the planned Adani Group takeover deal of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Ruto at the same time directed the cancellation of the signed deal with the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company, Ketraco.
In his State of the Nation address at Parliament, Ruto said this was in view of new evidence by local investigative agencies and information from partner states that link the Indian conglomerate with graft.
"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,” Ruto said.
The President directed the
ministries concerned to "immediately begin the process of onboarding new
partners because these are important projects”.
The President’s directive was
met with cheers and applause from members of both the Senate and National
Assembly.
The Adani company is
currently in the eye of a storm with the most recent information indicating
that billionaire owner Gautam Adani has been charged with fraud in the US.
The reports indicated that the
criminal charges were filed on Wednesday in New York.
Prosecutors alleged in court
that the tycoon and other senior executives bribed Indian officials to win
contracts for his renewable energy company expected to yield more than $2 billion in
profits over 20 years.
The Adani Group denied the
allegations, calling them "baseless" and stated in a statement that "all
possible legal recourse will be sought".
On October 11 this year, the Energy Ministry signed a Sh96 billion deal with Adani Energy Solutions Limited to manage the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company Limited (Ketraco) transmission lines for 30 years.
Energy and Petroleum Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi stated after signing the deal that Adani would develop, finance, construct, and operate critical transmission lines and substations across the country.
Come October 25, the High Court in Nairobi, however, issued conservatory orders stopping implementation of the deal and barred Adani from entering into any new agreement or furthering any existing deals.
The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) sought the conservatory orders terming the Ketraco deal "a constitutional sham" that's "tainted with secrecy” and is short of the principles of integrity.
Despite widespread public outcry, another deal for the takeover
of the JKIA was in the works for the Adani Group to take
over operations at the airport for 30 years in exchange for Sh238
billion.
