Air operators have joined workers at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in opposing the proposed JKIA-Adani private takeover deal. The air operators under the Kenya Association of Air Operators (KAAO) say that the proposed deal does not contain any real value for the JKIA.

The operators have instead stated that any investment into the JKIA by a foreign entity should be conducted through a competitive bidding.

“The board in its deliberations noted that it does not support the concession of JKIA as currently conceived, noting further that the stakes are too high for a one-bidder process for such a strategic asset and that the credibility of the potential partner is also in question,” said KAAO.

The opposition to the deal by KAAO comes after workers at the JKIA also rejected the proposed deal after going through the proposal documents that have been submitted by the Adani Airport Holdings to the government.

“As a union, we have gone through the documents that they provided is with and we state that they are bad. We do not want Adani to be in charge of our airport and we are going to make that clear to the government during our meeting next week,” KAWU secretary general Moses Ndiema said in an interview with a local media station.

Govt rejected better JKIA proposal; chose Adani’s 30-year controversial takeover

The JKIA workers lamented that none of the workers was involved in the deal and that the workers only learned about the deal when a whistleblower leaked its details on social media.

“It does not matter whether it is leasing or selling. I have heard them say they are not selling, they are leasing. The truth of the matter is that by the end of the 30 years, no one of these workers will be here. It is so unfortunate that the management of KAA has been silent about this,” said Ndiema in the interview.