Kenya airport workers' union delays strike by two weeks

A planned strike by aviation staff at Kenya’s international airport has been delayed by two weeks to “give dialogue a chance,” a spokesman said Saturday.

About 10,000 members of the Kenya Aviation Workers Union had planned to walk out from August 19 over plans by the Kenyan government to strike an investment deal with India’s Adani Group to expand and operate Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

“After deliberations, we have resolved to postpone our strike for two weeks to give dialogue a chance”, the union’s secretary-general, Moss Ndiema told AFP, adding that a meeting with the transport ministry will be held Tuesday.

The union has previously opposed the deal, saying it was an attempt to privatise the airport by stealth.

The strike will now kick off on September 2 “unless the talks bear fruit”, said Ndiema, without specifying further.

Under the proposal, Adani would invest $1.85 billion in expanding the airport in exchange for operating it for 30 years, according to documents seen by AFP.

Adani would add a second runway and upgrade the passenger terminal, according to the airport operator Kenya Airport Authority (KAA).

Kenya’s government has defended the deal as a necessary measure to refurbish JKIA — one of Africa’s busiest hubs — which is often hit by power outages and leaking roofs.

KAA said last month that the deal would be “subjected to technical, financial and legal reviews alongside requisite due processes”.

Last year, Adani Group, the sprawling ports-to-power Indian conglomerate, saw billions of dollars wiped from its market value after a report by the US-based Hindenburg Research firm accused it of “brazen” corporate fraud.

Gautam Adani — the family-run conglomerate’s founder and the world’s 12th richest person according to Bloomberg — denied Hindenburg’s allegations and called its report a “deliberate attempt” to damage its image for the benefit of short-sellers.

According to the KAA, 8.8 million passengers and 380,000 tonnes of cargo passed through the airport in the 2022/23 financial year. It contributes just over five percent of Kenya’s gross domestic product.