President Ruto orders immediate cancellation of Adani deals

President William Ruto has ordered for immediate cancellation of all deals currently being negotiated with Adani Group.

The announcement comes on the backdrop of the indictment of Adani Group founder and chairman Gautam Adani and seven of his associates by the United States over Ksh 32.3 billion ($250m) alleged bribe to India government officials.

“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,” said President Ruto during his State of the Nation Address.

The government through the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (KETRACO) signed a Ksh 95.7 billion deal with Adani Energy Solutions for the development, financing, construction, operation and maintenance of key transmission lines and substations for a period of 30 years.

Through Adani Airport Holdings, the Indian conglomerate was also negotiating for a lease agreement with Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) to manage Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) for a period of 30 years.

“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 immediately commence the process of onboarding alternative partners.