MUDAVADI fumbles as he reveals why RUTO is ‘selling’ JKIA to private investors amid protests by the Gen Zs

Tuesday, July 23, 2024 - Prime Cabinet Secretary (PCS) Musalia Mudavadi had a very difficult time explaining why President William Ruto is working with private investors at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

This follows the ongoing allegations that Ruto was in the process of selling the JKIA to some investors; something that has fueled anger among Kenyans, especially Gen Zs.

However, Mudavadi assured Kenyans that the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) was not for sale. 

Mudavadi was responding to a question in the National Assembly that the government wanted to hand over operations of the airport to private investors.

According to Mudavadi, the investors would be working under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) to construct a terminal in the airport. 

“JKIA is not on sale. This is a public asset. It is a strategic asset and if it was going to be sold, you can only do it after a full public process that Parliament endorses,” he explained.

“Anybody who is giving the impression that JKIA has been sold is not being factual.”

Mudavadi asked Kenyans to appreciate that the international airport was in dire need of an uplift hence the need to engage investors with a view of modernizing it.

“We need a new terminal, there was a green terminal but it never took off, the contractual agreement had its challenges,” he explained. 

The PCS noted that efforts to construct a green terminal were faced with litigations making it stall.

He remarked that going forward, the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) should make public all protracted engagements with private investors to avoid a repeat of the same.

The Kenyan DAILY POST