Adani is targeting all airports not just JKIA - Senator Onyonka

According to Onyonka, documents he has received from "individuals of good faith" reveal that Adani wants to secure a total takeover of all Kenyan airports in their cryptic deal.

"How do we take Ksh. 258 billion ($2 billion) and give it to one company which is going to do something for our country which we don't know except from a few people," he said speaking to Citizen TV on Tuesday.

"The problem with Adani is that they are not only targeting JKIA, they are actually targeting the whole infrastructure of all our nine airports."

Onyonka further intimated that Adani will also be seeking to take over the nation's geothermal power as there are ongoing deals to also cease control of Kenya Electricity Transmission Company Limited (KETRACO) and the Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KENGEN).

He opined that a special commission should be created to conduct a thorough probe into the controversial deal which has sparked public uproar and exposed the government to high skepticism.

"The Adani case is a true representation of our failure as leadership where our natural resources are being shared by individuals who are least interested to know what we feel," he said.

This comes a day after Onyonka introduced new evidence at a Senate committee hearing that had summoned Treasury Cabinet Secretary (CS) John Mbadi to shed light on the Adani controversy.

Onyonka presented letters from three companies that expressed interest in the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) but were reportedly overlooked. 

Onyonka contended that KAA insisted only Adani had shown interest and that their proposal was the only one processed.

A fiery exchange between Onyonka and Mbadi ensued as Onyonka claimed that the letters had indeed been received by KAA, while Mbadi maintained that no correspondence had been sent to the Treasury regarding any company other than Adani. 

Kenya is seeking to ink a deal with the questionable investor through a Public Private Partnership (PPP) which will see Adani anchor operations at JKIA for 30 years.

Following a shutdown strike on September 11 by aviation workers, the government made an agreement that the workers would have veto power over the Adani deal, hence no agreement would be signed by the government without their involvement and green light.

The official documents of the proposed Adani deal have been availed to the aviation workers as per their demands, and they would have a 10-day window to go through it and raise their concerns where necessary.

Meanwhile, the government has been at pains to elucidate on the deal and documents on the deal have not yet been made public.