Days after President William Ruto publicly acknowledged a serious communication issue within his administration and announced a Cabinet reconstitution, Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna has expressed a different viewpoint on the challenges facing the government.
Speaking on Thursday, September 12, 2024, Sifuna, the Secretary General of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), highlighted a significant trust deficit in Ruto’s government. According to Sifuna, this issue has been aggravated by the proposed takeover of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) by Adani Group, an Indian firm.
Sifuna criticized the secrecy surrounding the JKIA takeover deal, arguing that Kenyans are frustrated by the lack of transparency. He claimed that the Senate Transport Committee was left uninformed about the deal, which led them to request details under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) framework.
“It didn’t have to come to this where workers had to go to the streets to get details of this proposed deal,” Sifuna said. “A few months back, we had the president saying, when he was reconstituting his Cabinet, that one of his problems is communication. I think he has a bigger problem because my perspective is that the people don’t trust his government. The government has a bigger deficit of trust; therefore, nobody believes anything anybody in government says.”
Sifuna further explained that the trust deficit extends to the Adani deal. “A trust deficit in this government is the issue with this Adani deal. Otherwise, if this was an open government when it comes to deals, there would be less mistrust,” he added.
Suspicion Over Adani Deal
Sifuna also raised concerns about the competitive bidding process for the Adani Group deal. He suggested that if the bidding had been transparent, there would be less opposition to the deal. Instead, many Kenyans only learned about it through a whistleblower.
“Nobody believes that the Adani proposal was privately initiated. Many people suspect that the idea originated from here and they (Adani Group) are only a front,” Sifuna said. “ODM is not part of this government, but they are trying to drag us into this mess. Nobody asked ODM whether the airport should be mortgaged. This is a policy proposal by Kenya Kwanza,” he reiterated.
Strike called off
His sentiments come hours after the Kenya Aviation Workers Union (KAWU) called off their strike that caused flight delays at major Kenyan airports following talks with the government, through the Ministry of Roads and Transport.
The strike, which barely lasted 24 hours, was occasioned by the proposed JKIA takeover by the Indian conglomerate Adani Group, which the workers vehemently opposed.
“We have received the most pertinent documents as requested by the union. We undertake to go through them within 10 working days and flag out areas of our concern which shall immediately be pointed out with a view of jointly engaging in discussions with the government, Kenya Airways, and Kenya Airports Authority.
“The meeting shall immediately be convened after the said period of 10 working days. The way forward shall be determined by the outcome of our engagement on the same. We shall be represented in all the negotiations by two people,” COTU Secretary General Francis Atwoli told the press on Wednesday, September 11, 2024, after a closed-door meeting with the Ministry of Transport led by Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir and aviation workers representatives.
