By: Joseph Mutua Ndonga
Recently, the Kenya Airport Authority (KAA) workers downed their tools to protest what they termed as ill-advised move by the Government of Kenya to award a multi-billion contract to an Indian Conglomerate, Adani group, for construction and elevation of status of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) to the International standard.
The fear of losing their jobs was the main reason why the workers opted to stage a demonstration that paralysed operations at one of the busiest airports in the world for the better part of day.
A good number of travellers missed their flights after being denied access to the facility.
While making the claims of job losses, one would have expected the critics to refer to the specific clause (s) in the final agreements signed by the GoK and Adani group if it existed.
They,however, failed to do this because they knew they were not giving factual information.
So, how did the critics have their way? The KAA workers were gullible and hence would easily buy their card.
The ultimate goal was to settle political scores with President William Ruto by wrongly portraying him as a leader who have no interest of Kenyans at heart.
It is noting that the protest took place at a time when the Roads and Transport Committee of Senate had invited Davis Chirchir, the Cabinet Secretary (CS) in charge of that document, to appear before it to respond to questions and concerns raised about deal.
The CS vehemently denied that Adani group had already clinched the contract. The truth of the matter is that we are in the process of subjecting this deal to due diligence as required by the law.
The public participation is one of the critical steps.
After inviting Kenyans to present their views, we shall ensure their inputs are captured in the final agreement before signing it.
Claims by some senators, who were known to be fierce critics of the President, that one government official had received a hefty bribe from CEO of Adani group did not hold any water.
We saw them chickening out after being challenged to prove the allegations.
CS Chirchir has also noted. The KAA workers have no reason to worry.
If Adani clinches this contract, the management will have to follow the rules developed by GoK on this matter. No worker will lose his or her job.
They will remain as employees of KAA but those who will opt to work under new terms of Adani that would be more attractive will be free to do so.
As a writer, I had been following closely this developing story of Adani-JKIA.
Many would agree that much of what we have heard so far is a one-sided story coming from those opposed to the deal.
The critics would want Kenyans to believe that the law was not being followed and further drag the name of President William Ruto.
To them, neither Adani group nor the President have the interest of Kenyans at heart.
As President Ruto noted during the GenZ protests, when he declined to sign Finance Bill 2024, the channels of communication within the government were not doing enough to counter and rebuttal the unproven claims being peddled around by his critics.
Joseph Mutua Ndonga Is A Writer and Commentator based in Nairobi
