President William Ruto on Thursday ordered the Ministry of Transport and Energy to cancel all the contracts awarded to the Indian conglomerate Adani Group, bringing to a temporary halt the deals which have ignited uproar among Kenyans of different walks of life.
- The announcement made during the State of the Nation Address coincides with Wednesday indictment of entrepreneur Gautam Adani and seven other executives in New York on bribery charges.
- In October, the billionaire’s power transmission unit, Adani Energy Solutions signed an agreement with the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company Limited (KETRACO) to develop, finance, and maintain key power infrastructure in Kenya.
- Another proposed deal which was cancelled by Kenya’s high court in September would have seen Adani Group lease the country’s main airport (Jomo Kenyatta International Airport) for 30 years in exchange for expanding it.
Hours before the State of Nation Address, the ministry of energy under which Kenya Electricity Transmission Company Limited (KETRACO) falls defended the USD 736 million power infrastructure deal with the Cabinet Secretary in charge, Opiyo Wandayi saying the deal met all integrity standards.
On Thursday, Kenyan politicians led by Senators Olekina Ledama (Narok County) and Danson Mungatana (Tana River County) sought clarification from Energy and Petroleum Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi on whether the indictment news on Gautam Adani and other seven executives in New York would impact the future of Ketraco- Adani Energy Solutions project.
The Cabinet Secretary said his ministry cannot immediately tell whether the latest developments would affect the pact saying the government cannot verify the unfolding reports. “What is being raised does not have a correlation with the Ketraco deal,” Opiyo Wandayi said.
He referred the legislatures to section 41 of the procurement act which he noted has elaborate mechanisms for undertaking due diligence before such like deals are signed. He said the National Treasury did due diligence in 2 phases together with Ketraco officials before getting into the deal.
“Phase one involved Adani proponents providing documents such as tax compliance, the second phase involved 8 officers from Kenyan side travelling to India to verify the documents provided in phase one of the due diligence procedure,” Wandayi said.
“After all the process, Ketraco was of the view that Adani passed the test, we had no clue of any other matters that might come up like the one now being raised in the United States. We are proceeding with Adani on the Ketraco deal based on our previous due diligence.”
The order to cancel all the Adani deals was met with jubilation in the House with both Senators and Members of Parliament immediately chanting the slogans of ‘Adani Must Go’ temporarily interupting the President’s speech.
“I have stated in the past, and I reiterate that in the face of undisputed evidence or incredible information on corruption, I will not hesitate to take decisive action. Accordingly, I now direct based on new informationthat 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 contract, and immediately commence the process of onboarding alternative partners,” said Ruto.
