President William Ruto has once again unleashed a controversial multi-billion deal involving the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) that is shrouded in secrecy. This JKIA deal comes after the previous controversial deal between President Ruto’s government and the Indian conglomerate Adani Group flopped following intense public pressure and demonstrations.
In the deal, the government has handed a Chinese firm a mega contract for the modernization and expansion of the JKIA. The deal is also alleged to involve a Zimbabwean figure who has lately become a regular visitor at State House, Nairobi. The Zimbabwean has been identified as Wicknell Chivayo.
It however remains a mystery when the tender for the JKIA project was announced, how interested bidders were vetted, which bidders presented applications, and how the Chinese and Zimbabwean were awarded the deal.
Red flags have also been raised over the involvement of the Zimbabwean figure in such a mega national deal, with questions raised on why President Ruto can’t seem to carry out a transparent process for the airport’s modernization.
According to a report that appeared in the Daily Nation on Thursday, the JKIA contract is estimated to cost between Sh150 billion and Sh180 billion.
The report further quotes sources associated with the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) saying that there were two Chinese firms that had allegedly participated in a bid that was allegedly opened in March 2026. The two alleged firms are the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) and Sinohydro.
Claims now are that a company that is fully owned by Chivayo will implement the modernization of JKIA in partnership with CRBC. Curiously, it has remained puzzling why a mega company such as the CRBC which is known to have operated mega infrastructure projects required input from a Zimbabwean businessman who is closely associated with President Ruto.
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The Consumers Federation of Kenya (COFEK) told a local publication that it would challenge the involvement of Chivayo in the project, terming him as fraudulent.
“COFEK has established that joint-venture partner IMC Construction Kenya Limited is wholly owned by Chivayo, a man COFEK had already petitioned the High Court to bar from Kenya entirely, citing his fraud and money-laundering record and tender scandals in Zimbabwe, including the Gwanda solar project and Zimbabwe Electoral Commission contracts,” COFEK Secretary-General Stephen Mutoro told the media.
The deal being pushed by Ruto and his government has also drawn condemnation from Kenyans on social media with may wondering how the government settled on a Wicknell Chivayo, the contractor from Zimbabwe.
“Why is it so hard for our government to build a new international airport as Ethiopia and Rwanda have done in an above-board deal? Why do we like to use people with criminal pasts?” lawyer Donald B Kipkorir had posed on X (formerly Twitter).
“Is it so hard to undertake a multi-billion project with open transparency? How can we use a contractor from Zimbabwe of all places? JKIA deserves our respect and patriotism.”
In March, Kenya Airports Authority’s acting chief executive officer Mahamud Gedi, had said that the construction works at the airport would be funded by the government.
One of the ways through which the government would fund the project would include the securitization of the Air Passengers Service levy which is currently Sh18.5 billion. This levy would be used to support a Sh154.8 billion bond for the project.
“The government of Kenya is going to fund this project through a government finding model, not through PPP as was previously decide,” Gedi had said.
According to statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Roads and Transport Davis Chirchir, the JKIA has a capacity of about 8.93 million passenger and is expected to hit a capacity of 22.31 million passengers by the year 2045.At the same time, air cargo at JKIA is expected to grow from 407,214 tons in 2025 to 860,400 tons in 2045.
