In the world of politics, unpredictability is the name of the game. During the campaign period leading up to last month’s American election, President-elect Donald Trump always played cagey in his responses about certain policies, terming the phrase “I’d rather not play my cards, I want to be unpredictable.”
In Kenya, some might say President William Ruto has mastered the art of unpredictability while others may opine that he is fighting for his political survival.
This recently played out when the head of state cancelled the controversial Ksh.260 billion Adani deal to upgrade the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) only to shift blame to Kenyans weeks later.
A political chess master or is he clutching at straws?
During the State of the Nation address, the president exited the Members of Parliament by cancelling the Adani deals in the aviation and energy sectors. At the time, Ruto attributed his decision to credible evidence from relevant agencies.
“In the face of undisputed evidence or credible information on corruption, I will not hesitate to take action,” Ruto said.
“Based on new information provided by our investigative agencies and partner nations – 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, as well as the recently concluded KETRACO transmission line Public Private Partnership contract,” he added.
For months, Kenyans have voiced their displeasure with Adani’s Public Private Partnership (PPP) deal, but the State held strong insisting it was a good deal until it bowed to pressure after Gautam Adani, the Indian firm’s chairperson, was indicted by the US government over bribery charges.
Barely two weeks later, the head of state made a U-turn and heaped the blame on Kenyans for stopping the JKIA project.
“What gain do you get when you stop the building of an airport in your country? You have no clue how it’s going to be built, wale wanapinga, ata hawajai kanyaga airport, unapinga tu,” Ruto stated in Taita Taveta on Tuesday, December 3.
The statement reflected a visibly irate president who was incandescent towards Kenyans opposing his legacy projects.
“This spirit of opposing everything, tuombee nchi yetu. Wale ambao wanapinga kwa mitandao, tunawambia shetani ashindwe,” he added.
The Head of state reaffirmed that the airport would still be upgraded, citing that it was long overdue.
However, this called into question whether the president understood why Kenyans were opposed to the Adani deal in the first place.
Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna touched on this when he pointed out that Kenyans only demanded for transparency and accountability when carrying out such deals.
“Kenyans are not against the upgrading of the airport, all they want is transparency. It didn’t matter if Adani got it as long as the process was transparent and credible,” Sifuna said on Radio Citizen.
