A controversial deal by the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) to handover the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) to a private Indian firm will result in job losses for Kenyan employees currently working at the facility.
According to a report on the deal that appeared in a local business newspaper, employees currently working at the JKIA who are employed by the KAA will be forced to renegotiate their work contracts with the Indian firm Adani Airport Holdings once the takeover is completed.
At the same time, these employees will be forced to accept new terms and conditions as one basis for any rehiring that might take place. According to the proposed concession terms by Adani, not all employees will be rehired. The firm proposes that it will only absorb a portion of the current workforce.
The firm has also proposed to bring in foreign workers as part of its new workforce. These foreign workers, it is expected, will replace Kenyans who will be released by the firm.
“[Adani] shall offer employment to a mutually agreed percentage of present KAA employees on terms and conditions as recorded in the concession agreement… [Adani] may employ non-Kenyan employees,” part of the proposal by the firm states.
From the proposal, it is expected that any employees who are retained might also be subjected to salary restructuring, which often leads to lower salaries than previously earned.
The proposal by Adani had been kept secret by the government through the KAA. The KAA only admitted about it after it was leaked to the public.
In justifying the proposal, KAA claimed that the airport was built in 1978 and has aging infrastructure that is a threat to Kenya’s regional competitiveness. “KAA received an investment proposal under the Public Private Partnership Act 2021… [for] an investment in a new passenger terminal building, second runway, and refurbishment of the existing facilities at [the airport],” said KAA.
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Though KAA claimed that what it had was just a proposal, it went ahead to state that staff working at the airport will not lose their jobs with the entry of the Indian company. KAA went on to state that the expanded airport will be good for business – in what appeared to be a foregone conclusion for an impending takeover of the airport by Adani.
Adani has proposed to take over and run the JKIA under a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model for a period of thirty years. Within this 30-year period, Adani will be expected to earn at least an 18 per cent annual turnover.
At the same time, during the 30-year period, Adani will be entitled to determine and impose charges in US dollars on airlines and other users for services at Kenya’s main airport. “[Adani will] be free to determine to determine and collect charges for non-aeronautical and any other commercial activities without any restrictions,” the company states in its submissions.