Kenya President William Ruto has directed the Ministry of Transportation to revoke the proposed agreement between the Indian conglomerate Adani Group and Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
The Adani Group, which was established by Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, has been putting forward a plan to lease the nation’s main airport for 30 years in exchange for its expansion.
In response to public outcry over the public-private partnership (PPP) project, the Kenya Human Rights Commission and the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) filed a legal challenge, claiming the deal was unaffordable, threatened job losses, and did not provide value for money.
The USD 700 million agreement between State utility Ketraco and Adani Energy Solutions to construct and run transmission lines and other power infrastructure has also been cancelled by President Ruto, according to the Energy Ministry.
To defend the economic performance of his administration, the President issued the directives during his second State of the Nation Address in Parliament.
“I have stated in the past, and I reiterate today, that in the face of undisputed evidence or credible information on corruption, I will not hesitate to take decisive action. Accordingly, I now direct – in furtherance of the principles enshrined in Article 10 of the Constitution on transparency and accountability, and based on new information provided by our investigative agencies and partner nations – that the procuring agencies within the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum immediately cancel the ongoing procurement process for the JKIA Expansion Public Private Partnership transaction, as well as the recently concluded Ketraco transmission line Public Private Partnership contract, and commence the process of onboarding alternative partners,” President Ruto told Parliament in his State of the Nation address.
A new 206-kilometre Thika-Malaa-Konza line, a 95-kilometre Rongai-Keringet-Chemosit link, and a roughly 98-kilometre Menengai-Ol-Kalou-Rumuruti conduit were all proposed by the Adani company in the PPP agreement with Ketraco. Additionally, the 400/220/132kV substation at Rongai and the 132kV Thurdiburo substation were to be built.
Meanwhile, Tanzania has decided to honour its contracts with an Adani Group unit despite a US indictment of Gautam Adani on accusations of bribery and fraud, a senior official at the ports authority said. The indictment has been announced for an alleged USD 265 million scheme to bribe Indian officials to secure power-supply deals. Adani Group has denied the accusations.
In May 2024, Tanzania entered into a 30-year concession agreement with Adani Ports, a unit of Adani Group, to operate a container terminal in its Dar es Salaam port, known as Container Terminal 2. Adani Ports also struck a share purchase agreement for a 95% stake in state-owned Tanzania International Container Terminal Services for USD 95 million.
“We don’t have any problems with anyone. Everything we are doing is according to our laws and agreements,” Tanzania Ports Authority Director General Plasduce Mbossa told Reuters when asked about the contracts’ status.
“For contracts we have, we don’t have such claims (of wrongdoing). If there are other people who are taking action, then they are doing so according to their reasons,” the official added further.
As per the latest statement of Adani Green Energy, Gautam Adani has been charged in the United States for alleged securities law violations and faces potential fines but has not been charged under the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
According to the American authorities, the Indian billionaire, his nephew and executive director Sagar Adani and managing director of Adani Green, Vneet S. Jaain, were part of the USD 265 million alleged bribery scheme, apart from misleading US investors.
The company said that the US SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) complaint “prays for an order directing the defendants to pay civil monetary penalties (but) it does not quantify the amount of penalty.” The civil case brought by the SEC is a parallel case to an indictment against Adani and others by federal prosecutors.
Adani Green also said in a separate disclosure that “these directors have been charged on three counts in the criminal indictment” for alleged “securities fraud conspiracy, alleged wire fraud conspiracy, and alleged securities fraud.”
The venture has also denied the accusations in the indictment as baseless, and said it will seek all legal recourse.