Kenyan President William Ruto on Thursday ordered the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, and the Ministry of Transport to cancel all the deals signed with the Indian conglomerate Adani Group.
This significant move follows the indictment of the Indian Billionaire Gautam Adani, the founder and chairman of the Adani Group, in New York on a massive bribery scheme.
In October this year, the Adani Energy Solutions, the Group’s power transmission unit, secured a Kshs 95 billion (US$ 735 million) with the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company Limited (KETRACO) to construct, finance, and maintain key power lines in Kenya.
Another transaction that has been halted is the proposed deal to lease Kenya’s main airport, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), to the Adani Group. Under this deal, the Global Airports Operator, a subsidiary of Adani Airports Holdings Limited, would construct an additional terminal and runway in exchange for running the strategic infrastructure for three decades.
The Adani deals has attracted stiff opposition from Kenyans. In September 11th, operations at JKIA stalled following the strike by the country’s aviation workers who opposed the planned leasing of the key airport to Adani.
The government earlier defended the two deals by hightailing the need for the upgrading of the national airport and the electricity infrastructure. Hours before the announcement, the ministry of energy and petroleum defended the Adani-KETRACO deal, stating that the agreement met the required integrity standards.
However, things took a sharp turn when President Ruto was issuing the State of the Nation address before the Kenya’s parliament. The President reiterated his commitment to take decisive action against anyone in the presence of incredible and undisputed evidence on corruption.
“Accordingly, I now direct based on new information the procuring agencies within the ministry of transport and energy immediately cancel the ongoing procurement process for the JKIA expansion public private partnership , as well as the recently concluded KETRACO transmission line public private partnership contracts,” he said.
Following the US charges against Gautam Adani, the Groups stocks on Thursday crashed about 25%, wiping off about $26 billion in market capitalization.
Related: Adani Group Signs Sh95 billion with KETRACO Amid Controversy
