President William Ruto used his State of the Nation address on November 21 to highlight achievements of his regime. Everything, according to him, was on a favourable trajectory since taking power in 2022.
On the matter of abductions, disappearances and execution of critics of his regime, Mr Ruto almost sounded revolted, and promised speedy action.
Then he announced the cancellation of the contract between Adani and the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company and the almost-completed deal between Adani and the Kenya Airports Authority.
The latter deal would have seen Adani expand the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, and operate it for 30 years. The cancellations, he said, were due to revelations coming out of further investigation into Adani by Kenyan agents, and advice from partner nations.
A few questions arise. Does Mr Ruto want to say that he was not aware of death squads within the police which, in 2023, executed 75 people protesting the high cost of living?
Can it only be now that he has become aware of the culpability of the police in the abductions, disappearances and massacres of unarmed Gen-Z protesters in June this year?
For months since the secretive deal with Adani was revealed by a whistle blower, civil society organisations, a section of opposition leaders, the clergy, and media had highlighted Adani’s tainted reputation. They had pointed at the conglomerate’s controversies in Bangladesh, Australia and India.
One would have expected that these unsavoury revelations, at the very least, would have triggered caution in dealing with Adani. But no; it was full steam ahead.
The minister of energy pronounced with a straight face, and without a sense of irony, that just because Adani might be involved in fraud elsewhere had no bearing on the Kenyan deal because the conglomerate had not been fraudulent in Kenya. Yes, that’s the logic and morality in charge of our national affairs!
Mr Ruto referred to further investigation of Adani Group by Kenyan agents. So, the agents only revealed their findings some hours before his address? Is it not more plausible that the deals were cancelled only because Adani was indicted for bribery and fraud in a US court?
The Ruto regime had for months refused to listen to expressions of caution on Adani from a cross section of Kenyan society, yet in a matter of hours heeded advice from “partner nations”. What does that say about the regime’s attitude to the opinion of its own citizens on matters that affect them?
Before the cancellation, MPs and an opposition leader turned regime cheerleader, who should guard the public against the excesses of the executive, were the most ardent backers of the Adani deals.
When Mr Ruto announced the cancellations, the MPs gave him a standing ovation. When in June Mr Ruto withdrew the controversial Finance Bill, the MPs, who had overwhelmingly voted for it, clapped wildly. What a tragedy that we are back to the transactional brainless sycophancy of the Kanu era.
Tee Ngugi is a Nairobi-based political and social commentator.
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