Workers at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) have rejected the proposed deal to lease the airport to Indian conglomerate Adani Group for 30 years.
This latest rejection comes after the JKIA workers under the Kenya Aviation Workers Union (KAWU) scrutinized the proposal documents that were presented to them by the Kenya Airports Authority for ten days.
“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.
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.
Govt rejected better JKIA proposal; chose Adani’s 30-year controversial takeover
He went on to say that their concerns were not solely about employment, but the also about the takeover of a national asset by a foreign entity without a solid return on investment in contrast to other regional countries whose airports the JKIA is competing with.
“This is not only about employment. We are talking about the takeover of an international asset by a foreign company. The effects of the takeover will trickle down to ordinary Kenyans in many ways and that is why we have rejected it,” he said.
