Kenyan court suspends the proposed license of the nation’s primary airport to Adani

According to court documents, Kenya’s high court has provisionally halted a proposed agreement under which India’s Adani Group would lease the nation’s primary airport for a period of 30 years in exchange for its expansion.

The Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) and the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), the country’s primary bar association, submitted a joint application to the court on Monday, asserting that Kenya could independently raise the $1.85 billion necessary to renovate the airport in the capital, Nairobi.

According to court documents published by the KHRC on their website, LSK and KHRC claimed that the purported 30-year lease of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), East Africa’s largest aviation hub, was unaffordable, posed a fiscal risk, and did not provide taxpayers with value for money. Additionally, the lease threatened job losses.

Late on Monday, LSK President Faith Odhiambo posted on the social media platform X that the high court had granted her request for leave to submit a judicial review in order to challenge the potential lease of JKIA to Adani.

“The court has meanwhile issued a stay prohibiting any person from implementing or acting on the privately initiated Adani proposal over JKIA pending the conclusion of the court case,” Odhiambo reported.

A request for comment from Reuters was not promptly responded to by the Adani Group. “We are not going to comment on matters in court,” stated a spokesperson for the Kenya Airports Authority to Reuters.

The Kenya Aviation Workers Union called for a strike last month in protest of the proposed agreement, claiming that it would result in employment losses and the recruitment of non-Kenyan workers.

Kenya’s government has declared that the airport is operating beyond its capacity and requires modernization. However, it has also stated that the airport is not for sale and that no decision has been made regarding the potential public-private partnership to enhance the site.

In July, it was announced that Adani’s offer was under review. The government stated that safeguards would be implemented to guarantee Kenya’s national interests are safeguarded in the event that an agreement is reached.