Prime Cabinet Secretary (PCS) Musalia Mudavadi addressed concerns in the National Assembly on Tuesday, stating that the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) is not being sold to private entities.
Responding to queries about privatization, Mudavadi, who also serves as the Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs, elaborated on the government’s plans:
“JKIA is not on sale. This is a public asset. It is a strategic asset and if it was going to be sold, you can only do it after a full public process that Parliament endorses,” he asserted. “Anybody who is giving the impression that JKIA has been sold is not being factual.”
Expansion Through Public-Private Partnership
Mudavadi outlined the government’s strategy to modernize and expand JKIA through a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model. This approach aims to construct a new terminal, addressing the airport’s pressing need for upgrades without relinquishing ownership.
“We need a new terminal,” Mudavadi explained. “There was a green terminal but it never took off, the contractual agreement had its challenges.”
Transparency and Legal Compliance
The PCS emphasized the importance of transparency in the expansion process:
“Kenya Airports Authority must look at its investment program, very carefully, and make sure everything is transparent, so that during the expansion process of the second terminal,” he directed.
Mudavadi further stressed the need for proper legal procedures, stating, “I want to assure Kenyans that the JKIA is not for sale,” and called on the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) to “make sure the PPP arrangement is done properly and thoroughly through the legal process to ensure that every Kenyan knows what is going on.”
