Police officers take over passenger screening at JKIA as aviation workers stage strike over Adani deal

Police officers have taken over screening of passengers arriving at the main entrance to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) following the aviation workers strike over the controversial deal to lease the airport to India's Adani Group.

The officers screened passengers manually as the workers stationed at the security checkpoint joined the strike that began on Tuesday night.

The strike has seen hundreds of international and domestic travellers stranded with many questioning government's slow reaction to the stalemate whose end is not clear.

Police officers take over screening of passengers at the JKIA on September 11, 2024. (Photo: Mary Wambui)

Flights have consequently been delayed leaving stranded airlines calling for passengers patience.

The controversial deal has been opposed by the airport's workers who through their union, Kenya Airports Workers Union (KAWU) claim the deal is insincere, illegal and likely to make them lose their jobs.

"Our action is further informed by the declaration by Adani in their Impugned Privately Initiated Proposal (PIP) that upon buying off JKIA, they intend to lay off majority of employees, bring in non-Kenyans to work in the project and also force the few employees who will survive their purge to accept inferior terms and conditions of service that suits the Indian firm," KAWU Secretary General Moses Ndiema said in a statement on Tuesday night.

JKIA Aviation workers protesting against the Adani Group takeover, start chanting 'Adani must go!', after initiating a go-slow last night pic.twitter.com/pFbHFRoz92

— The Eastleigh Voice (@Eastleighvoice) September 11, 2024

The government through its spokesperson Isaac Mwaura, last week dismissed claims that it was selling the airport, adding that the deal with Adani is means to rid it of frequent embarrassments caused by leaking roofs and so forth.

“83 per cent of all the airport operations in the country are handled at JKIA. Over 8.6million people have been coming to the country via the airport, a number that exceeds its capacity of 7.2million,” said Mr Mwaura adding that the deal will also help the airport sort out the mess with leaking roofs, the runway and many other gaps that need to be filled to grow its status.

However, after a series of talks and protests, the union issued a 7-day strike notice that ended Tuesday midnight on the grounds that the government has not demonstrated any goodwill during their talks.