Cars queue at the entrance to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport during the recent strike. File picture: Simon Maina / AFP.
BRICS Plus Countries must not only be heard, but they must also be seen to be driving a positive and developmental economic agenda in Africa.
The recent protests and unrest by Kenyan Airport Authority staff members at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport(JKIA), where workers shut down the airport and grounded planes over a proposed airport lease agreement between India’s Adani Group and the Kenyan Government $1.85 billion airport investment, could have been averted.
The initial public private partnership, as announced by the Kenyan Government in March 2024, was seen as a significant step in structural reformation to the airport, which has faced many operational issues and challenges in the recent past.
According to reports, JKIA suffered water leakages and rampant power outages, which the Government could not address due to financial constraints. The Privately Initiated Proposal (PIP) by Adani Group was thus supposedly meant to revamp, expand and rejuvenate East Africa’s largest airport and address various operational issues.
These attempts have however been marred with negative sentiment and recently, the proposal was met with unrest by Kenya Airport Authority (KAA) employees. The concerns are mainly related to uncertainty regarding job security and the involvement of Adani Group.
Whilst the Adani Group has expressed a willingness to address the concerns by employees, the unrest, which caught global attention, could have hindered this investment opportunity but also created further civil unrest which has marred the country and nearly led to the overthrow of Kenyan President, William Ruto.
Whilst Prime Minister Niyendra Modi lobbied for the permanent sit of the African Union and her member States at the 2023 G20 Summit that was held in New Delhi and chaired by India. As well as affirming far-reaching investment opportunities for African member countries, the BRICS Plus member country cannot afford to be seen as another exploiter.
This also perhaps calls into question how governments in Africa approach public private partnerships, which are mainly deals initiated and concluded in the boardrooms with little, if no consultation with the general public, and in this case workers at the airport.
In many instances, not much effort is put in place to broadly explain the developmental and economic gains, such projects can bring, including but not limited to job creation, bolstering tourism inflows and creating world class international airports to foster air travel in Africa and the world at large.
As countries in the Global South primarily look at Brazil, Russia, India, China and other BRICS Plus member countries for investment opportunities, it becomes imperative that BRICS Plus member countries such as India and their respective companies, start to project their investments into Africa more differently, transparently and more inclusively to ensure they take citizens along to avoid any perceived misconceptions.
Kenya is one of Africa’s fastest growing economies and its bi-laterals with the Indian government have spearheaded expansion and developmental programmes in healthcare, infrastructure development and agriculture, to name but a few.
The import-export relationship has also seen the export of Kenya’s product and services to India and similarly, the setting up of Indian industries in Africa. Tata, Bharti Airtel, Mahindra and many other establishments are a few examples that seem to showcase the intention of India to form closer ties with the continent.
The recent economic indicators continue to highlight how companies from India that are investing in East Africa have reduced the employment deficit and imparted skills into the rural communities such as in Kenya where they operate.
To many pundits from the African continent with interest in BRICS plus countries and their interaction with the continent, such developments are worth the attention but this require more efforts from BRICS Plus Countries to tell their good stories and to take the people who benefit from this infrastructure investments along.
Over the years, Adani Group has positioned itself to be the market leader in transport logistics and energy utility portfolio businesses focusing on large scale infrastructure development with practices benchmarked to global standards. With this background, the role of Adani Group in the JKIA project is mainly capital funding for the expansion and restoration of the runways, terminals and cargo facilities.
In 2023, Kenya’s unemployment rate was 5.6 percent, which is a steady decline from the previous years. This decline was driven by lack of investment initiatives to create jobs, a stagnant private sector and lack of investment in government-led programs, Kenya which has been on the rise cannot afford to revert back to obscurity.
According to a statement by the Kenyan Government on a high-level impact assessment of the Adani Group’s involvement in JKIA, the investment will “accelerate the creation of jobs in the fields of administration, project management, logistics, Information Technology and customer service amongst others.”
Such positive spins from the project should have been better articulated to workers and the Kenyan populace to avoid the protests, concerns and doubts that have been televised and reported globally.
On close scrutiny, the implementation of the PIP by the Kenyan and Adani Group will serve as a pivotal point for economic growth and development, create jobs, form closer ties with BRICS plus member countries for future expansionary projects, promote trade and foreign direct investment. But this clearly demonstrates that BRICS Plus Countries should also monitor their companies in the continent as any reputational damage is primarily linked to the member State beyond the company’s that do business in the continent.
Whilst there might have been perceived challenges with the structure, nature and form of such an initiative, it is equally important that we begin to also familiarise ourselves and take a critical look at the BRICS Plus investment opportunities in the continent. The public cannot also be seen to be shying away from engaging on such massive infrastructure deals happening in our lifetime.
Perhaps this is the step towards economic progress that Kenya has been longing and waiting for decades. But what is quite evident is that BRICS Plus member countries and their companies who invest in the continent need to ensure they engage differently and courteously to ensure citizens are not also left behind.
Africa is open for business, but as BRICS countries such as India and her companies take this opportunity to engineer the much needed infrastructure and economic investment the continent needs, a more developmental approach is needed to engage our people who must be seen as central stakeholders in such initiatives.
* Phapano Phasha is Chairperson of CAPET Think Tank with interest in BRICS Plus Countries and Global South
** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.
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