Kenyan President William Ruto has ordered the cancellation of a procurement process that had been expected to award control of the country’s main airport to India’s Adani Group after its founder was indicted in the United States.

Ruto made the announcement on Thursday in his state of the nation address.

Under the proposed deal worth nearly $2bn, the Adani Group was to add a second runway at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and upgrade the passenger terminal in exchange for a 30-year lease.

Ruto also said he was cancelling a separate 30-year, $736m public-private partnership that an Adani Group firm signed with the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum last month to construct power transmission lines.

“I have directed agencies within the Ministry of Transport and within the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum to immediately cancel the ongoing procurement,” Ruto said, attributing the decision to “new information provided by investigative agencies and partner nations”.

Ruto’s announcement was met with thunderous applause and cheers from lawmakers in parliament, where he gave his address. The deals have drawn sharp criticism from many politicians and members of the public over concerns about a lack of transparency and value for money.

Representatives from the Adani Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

US authorities said in the indictment on Wednesday that group founder Gautam Adani, one of the world’s richest people, and seven other defendants agreed to pay about $265m in bribes to Indian government officials.

The Adani Group denied the allegations and said in a statement that it would seek “all possible legal recourse”.

Protests

The Adani Group made the airport proposal in March under a procedure that circumvents competitive bidding, but it did not become public until July through a leak on social media.

A Kenyan court temporarily blocked it in September in response to a lawsuit arguing it did not offer taxpayers value for money.

Senior government officials, including Ruto, had repeatedly defended the deals despite allegations made in 2023 by US short-seller Hindenburg Research – denied by the Adani Group – of improper governance practices at the company.

As late as Thursday morning, Energy Minister Opiyo Wandayi told senators he expected the transmission lines contract to go ahead because there was no bribery or corruption involved in its awarding.

George Kamau, a Kenyan lawyer specialising in public procurement, said the Adani Group might go to arbitration to challenge the cancellations, especially of the transmission lines deal, which had already been signed.

“That said, any dispute resolution framework … is likely to lean towards the state, considering the fact that the deal has been cancelled on the basis of integrity issues,” he said. (Al Jazeera/ Reuters)

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The US has warned that Kenya’s rising debt burden is undermining its ability to provide quality medical care and education to its citizens, shining the spotlight on expensive debt procured in the last decade partly from China, reports Business Daily Africa.

The Kenyan business daily quoted a newly published biennial report by the Office of the United States Trade Representative on the implementation of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, stating, “Kenya’s ability to adequately fund its social services (which include education, healthcare, and housing) and poverty reduction programs is increasingly constrained by the cost of servicing its debt, partly due to the continued weakening of the local currency.”

“As a result, Kenya continues to allocate more money for debt repayment than it does for development expenditures,” the report quoted.

Kenya is facing violent protests due to its ongoing economic crisis. The East African nation’s total debt stands at USD 80 billion, representing 68 per cent of its GDP, exceeding the World Bank and IMF’s recommended maximum of 55 per cent.

Most of Kenya’s debt is held by international bondholders, with China being the largest bilateral creditor, owed USD 5.7 billion.

The Kenyan business daily reported that ballooning debt servicing expenses have in recent years overtaken expenditures on salaries and wages, administration, operation, and maintenance of public offices for the national government.

“This underlines the impact of commercial and semi-concessional loans that Kenya has contracted in the last decade to put up much-needed roads, bridges, power plants, and a modern railway line,” said Business Daily Africa in the report.

It mentioned that the latest disclosures from the Treasury, for instance, show debt repayment costs gobbled up an equivalent of three-quarters (75.47 per cent) of taxes collected in 11 months of the just-ended financial year.

Washington’s concerns come on the back of the US and her Western allies increasing scrutiny of secretive clauses in loans that China has offered African countries.

The Kenyan business daily mentioned a study by AidData, a research laboratory at the College of William & Mary in the US, which found that the terms of Beijing’s loan deals with developing countries were usually secretive and required borrowing nations such as Kenya to prioritize repayment to Chinese state-owned lenders ahead of other creditors.

The dataset, based on an analysis of loan agreements between 2000 and 2019, suggested the Chinese deals have clauses for “more elaborate repayment safeguards” than its “peers in the office credit market.”

The business daily said that Kenya paid China Sh152.69 billion for interest and principal sums falling due in the financial year ended June 2024, 42.14 percent more than Sh107.42 billion in the year that ended June 2023.

The US says increasing debt obligations, corruption, and the lingering effects of the pandemic on household and company earnings have nearly paralyzed Kenya’s march towards an “industrializing, middle-income country that provides a high standard of living to all its citizens by 2030, in a clean and secure environment.” (ANI)

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LIPTON Teas and Infusions, a tea and herbal drink producer from the Netherlands, has agreed to the terms of a partnership which will result in the transfer of its tea estates in Rwanda, Kenya, and Tanzania to Sri Lankan firm, Browns Investments.

Issuing a statement, LIPTON Teas and Infusions announced that the agreement also includes that all tea sold by Browns worldwide will be grown and harvested to a new set of standards covering quality, social, and environmental protection. 

According to the announcement, this long-term partnership will make Sri Lanka’s Browns Investments the world’s leading tea exporter- around 87 million kilograms each year- as well as one of the largest suppliers to the world’s largest tea company, LIPTON Teas and Infusions.

Browns will invest in its estates in Kenya and Sri Lanka to meet the new standards by 2025, as well as in the creation of additional skilled employment opportunities in Kenya. 

Also, shares totalling 15 per cent of the main Kenyan operating company will be offered to the communities of Kericho and Bomet, where the estates are situated, at a substantial discount to create accessible communal equity and mutually aligned economic participation.

LIPTON Teas and Infusions and Browns are also jointly creating a Community Welfare Trust with an initial one billion Kenyan shillings dedicated to helping address other needs in local and neighbouring communities.

Lipton Kenya Estates is made up of 11 plantations and eight factories distributed across the two counties of Bomet, Kericho and Kiambu.

In line with Lipton Teas and Infusions’ vision of creating value for all, the proceeds or the transaction will be reinvested into the East Africa region to drive local and industry-wide progress in relevant areas such as skills development and climate change mitigation.

Full statement : https://shorturl.at/fpstZ (Newswire)

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At least 48 people have been killed when a truck apparently lost control and rammed into other vehicles and pedestrians at a busy junction in western Kenya.

“So far, we can confirm 48 dead and we are suspecting one or two are still trapped under the truck,” local police commander Geoffrey Mayek said after the accident on the highway between the towns of Kericho and Nakuru on Friday night.

“Thirty people have been seriously injured and rushed to various hospitals. The numbers could be more but as of now we are sure about 30.”

Regional police commander Tom Odera confirmed the death toll stood at 48. Heavy rains are hindering rescue operations, local media reports said.

“We are suspecting a truck which was being driven … towards Kericho lost control and rammed into matatus [local minibuses] that were packed at a bus stop, running over those matatus and injuring passengers and pedestrians who were standing by the bus stop,” Mayek said.

Peter Otieno, a driver, who witnessed the accident said: “I saw a speeding oncoming trailer. I swerved and escaped hitting him head-on. The person who was behind me thought I wanted to buy something. He overtook me and that is when he was hit. The trailer went off the road and hit other vehicles.

“I saw about 20 bodies with my own eyes. There were other bodies that were under the vehicle.”

‘The country mourns’

The Kenya Red Cross said the truck rammed more than six vehicles and ran over pedestrians. Images posted by local television stations showed several mangled vehicles.

“My heart is crushed,” Kericho governor Erick Mutai said on Facebook. “It is dark moment for the people of Kericho. My heart goes out to the families who have just lost their loved ones.”

The death toll makes the accident one of the most deadly on Kenya’s roads in recent years. Last year, 34 people died in central Kenya when their bus veered off a bridge and plunged into a river valley.

The number of people killed on Kenya’s roads has increased in recent years, according to government statistics.

“The country mourns with the families who have lost loved ones in a horrific road accident in Londiani,” Kenyan President William Ruto wrote in a tweet.

“It is distressing that some of the fatalities are young people with a promising future and business people who were on their daily chores.” (AL Jazeera)

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