The astonishing extent to which Indian firm Adani is spreading its tentacles in Kenya continues to unravel. It has now emerged that the government of President William Ruto has lined up multi-billion deals that Adani will run for decades.
These deals include the highly controversial Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) deal, a multi-billion energy deal, and a healthcare deal for the Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
In the JKIA takeover deal, the Adani Group has been offered a lease deal for a period of 30 years by the government of Kenya in exchange for renovations and management of the airport that has been widely criticized as lacking innovation and a poor return on investment given the airport’s current profitability.
The Indian firm has claimed that it will invest Sh. 238.65 billion in the JKIA, which it will then recoup over a 30-year period.
In the energy deal, the Adani Group is being tasked to build high-voltage power transmission lines. The company will do this through its subsidiary known as the Adani Energy Solutions Limited. With this deal, Adani will then ask for Sh. 634.7 billion from Kenyans over the next 30 years.
To finance this project, Adani has proposed to go for a 70 per cent debt and 30 per cent equity financing model, in which only 30 per cent of the investment will be its own money while the remainder of 70 per cent will be loans whose sources the company is yet to disclose.
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In the Universal Health Coverage deal, it has emerged that the largest shareholder in the consortium that has been awarded a multi-billion contract to develop and run a tech-based UHC system is linked to Adani. This company is known as Apeiro Limited and is part of the Safaricom consortium that has bagged the contract.
Apeiro owns a 59.55 per cent stake in the consortium. Safaricom owns a 22.56 per cent stake in the consortium while Konvergenz Network Solutions Limited holds a 17.89 per cent stake.
Apeiro Limited is a subsidiary of Sirus International Holding. Sirus International Holding is a company based in Abu Dhabi whose actual ownership is unknown. This company is currently in a joint venture with the Adani Group known as Sirius Digitech Limited.
With these deals involving billions of money and touching on highly sensitive objectives, it has remained unclear how a single company has managed to secure such lucrative contracts without going through competitive bidding processes.
In one instance involving the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Adani has been reportedly claimed to have said that it launched a bid to take over the management of the airport after news reports in the media about leaking roofs and power blackouts.
The company presented a proposal to the Kenya Airports Authority on March 1, 2024. This proposal was approved in just 17 days. It has also emerged that claims by the government that Adani is the only company that has expressed interest in “investing” in the JKIA, another proposal was sent to the government from a global airports manager in mid-June 2024.
This proposal by Corporacion America Airports SA, which is one of the world’s largest airport operators has been sat on by the government since its submission.
This proposal was sent in when the current Cabinet Secretary for Youth and Sports Kipchumba Murkomen was in charge of the Ministry of Transport. It was also during Murkomen’s tenure that the Adani proposal was filed and approved.
In a turn of events that has left many Kenyans puzzled, Adani also filed a proposal for a multi-billion deal in the energy sector. This proposal, which was filed under the public private partnership (PPP), was done when Davis Chirchir was the Cabinet Secretary in charge of Energy.
Mr. Chirchir is now the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, the ministry that is directly involved with the controversial takeover bid that has been pitched by Adani.
