Kiambu Senator Karungo Thang’wa on Thursday offered a unique perspective into the latest move by President William Ruto to cut ties with the Adani Group.
The President earned plaudits in Parliament and nationwide following his State-of-the-nation address, where he dropped a bombshell by announcing that the government would halt the ongoing deals proposed by the Adani Group to take over the country’s infrastructure in the aviation and energy sectors.
In a seemingly well-calculated move, Ruto’s Adani resolve came hours after the group was implicated in a damaging scandal by the United States government, which charged Gautam Adani – the chair of Indian conglomerate Adani Group – for allegedly paying Ksh30 billion in bribes to obtain solar energy supply contracts.
“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, and immediately commence the process of onboarding alternative partners,” Ruto said on Thursday.
After the President’s announcement, Senator Thang’wa was among the numerous leaders who weighed in on the matter, albeit with a controversial take.
While lauding the President for the move to cut ties with Adani, the Kiambu Senator, who is a known ally of former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, appeared to hint the damage from the deal may already have been done.
“The President’s State of the Nation address has accomplished one key thing: it has strengthened us, the people-centric representatives, in our resolve to speak the truth and defend our constituents. It is evident that, albeit belatedly, the President listens and occasionally vindicates those of us who have dared to dissent along the way,” he shared on social media.
“Now that the Adani deals (JKIA and Kentraco) have been cancelled, the pressing question is: has Kenya incurred any financial losses as a result, and if so, how much? More importantly, who will be held accountable for these losses?”
Senator Thang’wa further vowed to use the Senate to determine the details of the JKIA and KETRACO deals with Adani and make the findings public.
In October, Thang’wa, who is chairperson of the Senate Committee on Roads, Transport and Housing, revealed the Senate Committee has finalized its report on the Adani deal to take over JKIA and the report was ready for tabling in the Senate.
At the time, the committee had made three recommendations, including calling on the government to incorporate a Swiss challenge, which is a way of giving the public authority to procure or have a say in a privately initiated proposal.
Thangw’a was keen on seeing the particulars of the two Adani deals undergo a public participation process, in the same way, Kenyans were included in the impeachment of Rigathi Gachagua through public participation.
Source: kENYANS.CO.KE