President William Ruto has ordered the immediate cancellation of public-private partnership (PPP) deals for two critical infrastructure projects: the expansion of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and the KETRACO transmission line.
The move comes in light of reports implicating the Indian conglomerate Adani Group in a major fraud case in the United States.
During his State of the Nation Address, Ruto stated that the decision was based on intelligence shared by partner nations.
He directed the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum to terminate the ongoing processes and begin sourcing alternative partners.
“Accordingly, I now direct in furtherance of principles enshrined in Article 10 of the constitution on transparency and accountability and based on new information provided by investigative agencies and partner nations, that the procuring agencies in the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, immediately cancel the ongoing procurement process for the JKIA expansion private-public-partnerships,” Ruto said.
The development follows criminal charges filed in New York against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and other senior executives of his group. Prosecutors accuse Adani of orchestrating a $250 million bribery scheme to secure lucrative renewable energy contracts in India, estimated to yield $2 billion in profits over two decades.
The Adani Group, whose business spans ports, airports, and energy, has denied the allegations, calling them “baseless” and vowing to pursue legal recourse. The charges have caused shares of Adani Enterprises and its subsidiaries to plunge, intensifying scrutiny on the conglomerate.
Adani Green Energy, the company central to the allegations, has already canceled a planned $600 million bond issuance. This marks another setback for the group, which has faced controversy since 2023, when Hindenburg Research accused it of stock manipulation and accounting fraud.