Ruto cancels Adani power lines and JKIA deals

President William Ruto has cancelled the Adani Group’s power lines construction deal as well as its proposed takeover of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

President Ruto announced the cancellation in his annual State of the Nation Address to a joint house of Parliament on Thursday. The announcement took Kenyans by surprise, considering that just a few hours earlier, Energy and Petroleum Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi had insisted that the Adani power lines deal would go ahead.

Ruto said the cancellation was a result of receiving new information about Adani’s conduct in partner countries, casting doubt about the credibility of the deals. Ruto’s announcement was met with loud cheers and a standing ovation from MPs, who expressed their joy for the cancelation of the controversial Adani deals which had alienated them from Kenyans.

The President also directed the Ministry of Roads and Transport and the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum to commence the process of looking for investors that will undertake the projects that Adani was poised to do through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) framework.

In furtherance of the principles enshrined in Article 10 of the Constitution on transparency and accountability, based on new information provided by 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 PPP as well as the recently completed KETRACO power lines contract and immediately begin the process of onboarding alternative partners

president william ruto

By canceling the deals, the President added that he would not hesitate to crack down on corruption in the country when evidence has been provided by the relevant investigating and enforcement agencies.

Ruto’s decision to cancel the Adani contracts comes just hours after the US Department of Justice (DoJ) indicted Gautam Adani and seven other executives over allegations that it the firm had promised to bribe Indian officials $265 million (Ksh34.3 million) to win a solar energy project in India.

Earlier, critics of the Adani deals had noted that concerns that had been raised about the Adani Group were overlooked by Kenyan authorities who were keen to push through the power lines and JKIA deals with the Indian company by all means possible.

Even as celebrations by a section o Kenyans continue following the cancellation of the Adani deals, details are still scanty about penalties, if any, that Kenya could incur for pulling out the Ksh95.68 billion deal that the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (KETRACO) had already signed with the Adani Energy Solutions Limited (AESL).

KETRACO will now be forced to start afresh the process of procuring investors to undertake the construction of high voltage power transmission lines and related substations that Adani was set to build.

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