Prime Cabinet Secretary (CS) Musalia Mudavadi has clarified on the viral online reports that the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) has been leased to a private entity.
Speaking when he appeared at the National Assembly’s Budget and Appropriations Committee, Mudavadi said that JKIA is a public asset and it can only be sold after a full public process that parliament endorses.
He added that the airport needs modernisation since the new terminal never took off the contractual engagement.
“Let me discount immediately that 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. Anybody giving the impression that Jomo Kenyatta International Airport has been sold is not being factual, it is not true,” Mudavadi said.
“What we need to appreciate is that we will need to modernise our airport we will need a new terminal which never took off the contractual engagement had its challenges there were litigations that stalled.”
Mudavadi urged the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) to be transparent during the expansion process of the second terminal.
“Going forward, the Kenya Airports Authority 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, if it’s under the PPP arrangement, let it be done properly, thoroughly through the legal process so that everybody knows what is going on but I want to assure Kenyans that the KAA is not up for sale,” he said.
The Prime CS further disclosed the national government’s plans to create JKIA as a logistical hub that will meet certain standards so that the United Nations can use it as a logistical hub for their operations.
“One of our long-term strategies is to create Nairobi as a logistical hub we are talking even with the United Nations Offices in Nairobi so that apart from the new terminal that will come up we want to create JKIA have part of Mombasa at the port and have all through to Naivasha,” he disclosed.
“Logistics hubs that meet certain standards so that the United Nations can use this destination Kenya as a logistical hub for their operations just the way there is a logistics hub in Italy by the United Nations, so these are some of the long-term objectives we have around Jomo Kenyatta airport but it’s not for sale so I hope that clears the air.”
Jomo Kenyatta international Airport is not on sale. pic.twitter.com/dg1Mwgc0iq
— Musalia W Mudavadi (@MusaliaMudavadi) July 23, 2024