President William Ruto has stopped the takeover of the ongoing Public Private Partnership (PPP) between the government and the Adani Group over the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and KETRACO with immediate effect.
Speaking during the State of the Nation Address, Ruto said the decision was made because of the information that the government obtained from partner nations.
“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 immediately commence the process of onboarding alternative partners,” Ruto said.
The President urged the relevant ministries and agencies to commence finding alternative firms that can undertake the JKIA expansion and the KETRACO transmission deal terming them as important projects which require foreign investors.
“They should begin the process of onboarding alternative patners because this are important projects. We value the contribution of all whether it comes in form of support, criticism or protest. The most important component of leadership is listening and learning,” President Ruto noted.
This coming hours after Energy and Petroleum Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi has revealed that Kenya Electricity Transmission Company Limited(KETRACO) deal with Adani Energies solutions will go on despite fraud charges in the United States as he emphasised that a comprehensive due diligence was conducted by the government.
Appearing before the Parliamentary Energy Committee over the controversial Ketraco-Adani deal CS Wandayi noted that the government conducted two phases of due diligence exercise on Adani including a documentary review process where the company demonstrated technical, legal and financial capacity for the construction of electricity transmission lines and substations.
