Nairobi– Raila Odinga has criticized the government’s cancellation of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) expansion deal with India’s Adani Group, calling it a major setback for Kenya’s goal to become a leading African aviation hub.
Speaking at the Cabinet retreat in Karen on Wednesday, Odinga expressed disappointment over the repeated collapse of plans to upgrade JKIA. “Kenya can become a hub, a big hub,” he said. “I was very disappointed when we were not able to move on with the airport contract. That was very unfortunate.”
The Adani deal was the most recent attempt to revive a project first initiated in 2012. Then, under the Grand Coalition Government, a Greenfield Terminal expansion was awarded to China National Aero-Technology International Engineering Corporation (CATIC) in partnership with a Canadian consortium. The project aimed to increase JKIA’s passenger and cargo capacity. It was canceled in 2016 over cost concerns.
In 2023, President William Ruto’s administration brought Adani Group into the project under a public-private partnership. The move was pitched as a strategic step to position Nairobi as a regional logistics hub. But mounting political scrutiny and global legal troubles surrounding the Adani conglomerate triggered backlash.
Odinga linked the collapse to internal politics and a lack of long-term vision. “When we now brought in the Adani, they brought all this politics, and then the contract was canceled. If that is not done, Nairobi has become dormant,” he said.
Odinga also warned that regional competitors have moved ahead. “Look at Addis Ababa. It’s going. Now they’re putting up a big new airport. Addis is becoming the hub, built around Ethiopian Airlines,” he said. He added that Emirates in the UAE operates not just for profits, but as a national driver of investment and tourism.
President Ruto officially canceled the JKIA-Adani partnership in late 2024 after U.S. authorities indicted Adani Group founder Gautam Adani and his nephew, Sagar Adani, in a $250 million bribery case involving solar energy contracts.
“In furtherance of the principles enshrined in Article 10 of the Constitution on transparent accountability, and based on new information provided by investigative agencies and partner nations, the procuring agencies… must immediately cancel the ongoing procurement process for the JKIA expansion,” Ruto directed at the time.
The cancellation also affected a separate energy deal between Adani and the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (KETRACO).
Adani has denied all allegations and described a 2023 report by Hindenburg Research that accused him of fraud and stock manipulation as “nothing but a lie.” That report triggered a market collapse, erasing $80 billion from his net worth. He currently holds an estimated $85.5 billion, according to Bloomberg.
As Kenya walks away from the JKIA-Adani partnership, questions remain about the future of the airport’s expansion and the country’s ability to compete in the region’s aviation sector.
