JKIA workers boycott public participation session on Adani takeover

Kenya Aviation Workers Union (KAWU) members on Tuesday refused to take part in a public participation exercise carried out at the State Pavillion at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport over the takeover of the airport by Adani. 

The employees who had completed their 15-hour shift were boarding staff buses to go home only to be taken into the state pavilion where the public participation exercise was taking place. They opted to use private means to get home following the standoff. 

KAWU Secretary General Moss Ndiema condemned the secrecy surrounding the public participation insisting that airport workers do not have any information on the deal apart from the information on social media. 

“We have asked for the documents concerning the deal to be made public but they are saying there is no document. So, what are we going to discuss in the public participation if we do not have details concerning the deal? They want to use our members to rubberstamp an illegality. Public participation is supposed to be voluntary, you cannot force someone,” Mr Ndiema said. 

Mr Ndiema added that the workers will be meeting on Saturday this week to deliberate on the strike notice they had given after a meeting with the Energy Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir on Monday bore no fruits. 

“We had an attempt yesterday (Monday) to have the negotiations but the government is bent on pushing the Adani takeover by hook or crook. Today, they are purporting to be having public participation at the State Pavillion. They want to coarse employees to attend the exercise but we have told them not to attend,” Mr Ndiema said. 

Also Read: Dark side of Adani, the Indian tycoon linked to controversial JKIA deal

The union members insist that the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) should be the one to take charge of the refurbishment of the airport and not the foreign firm. 

“KAA is one of the few firms making profit in the country. You cannot lease an operating airport built with the taxpayer’s resources to a foreign firm.

"If you go to Rwanda, they give you a virgin land where an airport is being built. They never give out an operating airport. In Kenya we have Konza City, let the government take Adani to the city and tell them to build an airport there and they operate it,” Mr Walter Ongeri, the National Chairperson of the union said. 

Also Read: Adani-JKIA deal faces red flags auditor-general raised in 2018

The workers are also demanding changes to the board of management of KAA for failing to involve the members in the whole process of the takeover and failing to meet the demands of the members.

Billion dollar deal

In the Sh246 billion deal, the Gautam Adani-owned Indian firm would upgrade the airport, including the construction of a second runway and a new passenger terminal, under a 30-year-build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract.

The firm will also be expected to carry out renovations and refurbishments to the airport. It will also be responsible for the development and operation of JKIA- Kenya’s largest aviation facility and East Africa’s busiest airport. 

The government has defended the deal insisting that JKIA was stretched beyond its capacity of 7.5 million passengers a year and urgently needed improvements.

The statement said modernising JKIA could cost $2 billion, which the government was "constrained to fund due to the tight fiscal situation".

Transport Cabinet Secretary Davies Chirchir while appearing before parliament for vetting a few weeks ago defended the Sh246 billion deal with the Indian firm over the expansion and takeover of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport insisting that it is beneficial to the country.

"This is an off-balance sheet upgrade of the Kenya Airports Authority. If we can't do it as the government, can we allow a private sector player to do it at a reasonable or competitive cost and return on investment," Mr Chirchir said.

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