Kenyan President William Ruto has decided to cancel the agreement being finalised between the government and the Indian financial group Adani to manage Nairobi's JKIA international airport for the next 30 years. The agreement had been criticised in recent months by the opposition, by the airport employees who had also crossed their arms for 24 hours causing major disruptions to international transport, and by Generation Z youths who had tried to occupy it.
The straw that broke the camel's back, however, was the accusations made against the company's major shareholder, billionaire Gautam Adani, by the US prosecution service that he had paid hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes, keeping his investors in the dark. Adani, who has a business empire not only involving airports (over thirty in India alone), but ranging from cement to coal, from electricity to media, in addition to the Nairobi airport, whose expansion he had promised, was in the process of closing another deal to acquire the state-owned Ketraco, a supplier of electricity equipment.
During his State of the Nation address in Parliament, Ruto confirmed the decision, revealing that his directive was influenced by credible evidence of the possible partner's corruption.
‘I have stated in the past, and I reiterate today, that when faced with irrefutable evidence or credible information on corruption, I will not hesitate to take decisive action,’ said the Kenyan president.
‘Accordingly, I have resolved that the procuring agencies within the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum immediately cancel the ongoing procurement process for the JKIA expansion public-private partnership transaction and the recently concluded KETRACO transmission line public-private partnership contract and immediately commence the process of recruiting alternative partners,’ Ruto announced.

Despite the fact that it is crucial for Nairobi airport to achieve modern standards on par with other international airports and major crossroads, given the destination's rise and importance as an African hub, the failure to reach an agreement with Adani, if indeed words are to be turned into deeds, is good news, because from what had appeared in the media, the agreement also stipulated that Adani could veto the construction of new airports or upgrades, renovations or improvements to other international airports in Kenya over the next 30 years. Inevitable was the thought about the future of the Malindi airport.