JKIA is not for sale! Mudavadi assures Kenyans

Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has assured Kenyans that the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) is not for sale.

The clarification follows weeks of claims online that the airport had been leased to a foreign entity.

But speaking on Monday while appearing before the Budget and Appropriations Committee at County Hall, Mudavadi said there are no plans whatsoever to put the airport on sale, although there are long-term plans to upgrade it.

"This is a public asset. It is a strategic asset, and if it is going to be sold, you can only do it after a full public process that Parliament endorses. So anybody who is giving the impression that Jomo Kenyatta airport has been sold is not being factual," he said.

Kisii Senator Onyonka is among the legislators who have publicly discussed reports alleging existing plans to take over JKIA. Onyonka, who spoke during an interview on Citizen TV, claimed that the government had handed over airport ownership to unnamed foreign players.

"We are signing off on our airport to be run by a private company for 30 years, and after the contract expires, they will keep the equity of our airport at the rate of 18 per cent. Why would anyone sign such an agreement?" posed the senator, citing an unnamed French whistleblower.

However, Mudavadi told the MPs that the Kenya Kwanza administration had plans to modernise the airport and build a new terminal.

Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi when he appeared before the National Assembly’s Budget and Appropriations Committee on July 22, 2024. (Photo: X/Musalia Mudavadi)

"The Kenya Airport Authority (KAA) must look at its investment programme very carefully, and make sure that everything is transparent. So that during the expansion process of the second terminal, let it be done through the legal process so that everybody knows what is going on," he said.

In May, the Ministry of Transport unveiled plans for a new terminal at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) to combat future flooding.

The move was prompted by recent water leakage and flooding in sections of the airport, which is East Africa's main hub.

The new terminal would be built through a public-private partnership (PPP) model, with the aim of having a fully operational facility within the next three years.

JKIA, the biggest and busiest airport in the country, has faced myriad challenges, with the latest revelations of a leaking roof going viral.

Last year, the Ministry of Transport was already carrying out feasibility studies expected to reveal the actual cost of constructing a new airport.

It was estimated that the construction of an international airport with its basic components—the runway, hangar, parking lot, terminal building, and taxiway—could cost about Sh15 billion.