After a tense standoff that left hundreds of passengers stranded at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), striking workers have accepted a deal to return to their posts following a day-long protest.
But while operations at the airport were about to resume, the dispute over the government’s plan to lease the airport to India’s Adani Group remains unresolved.
The airport workers, who downed their tools on Wednesday, have not backed down from their opposition to Adani’s proposed 30-year takeover.
Negotiations facilitated by the Ministry of Transport and trade union leaders reached an agreement for the workers to resume their duties.
However, the workers have been given veto powers to stop the controversial deal at any stage if their concerns are not addressed.
Central Organisation of Trade Unions (COTU) secretary general Francis Atwoli, who read out the statement after the talks, made it clear that although work had resumed, the workers were not entirely satisfied with the government’s position.
Moss Ndiema, the secretary general of the Kenya Airport Workers Union (KAWU), insisted that the return to work was neither an agreement nor an endorsement of the proposed takeover of JKIA.
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“We have not declared that we accept the Adani deal,” he said.
He added: “We have been given powers of attorney to continue our deliberations.”
Government representatives, including Transport Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir and Transport Principal Secretary Mohammed Daghar, were present at the negotiations. They reiterated the government’s intention to improve the airport’s infrastructure and services, saying that private investment was essential to alleviate the current capacity constraints at JKIA.
“It is a good opportunity, we have signed a formula to return to work. We have had challenges with the management of the airports and it has embarrassed us globally. We need a good facility to remain competitive in the country,” the Transport CS said.
He added that as a government they had a communication challenge. “We did not communicate properly on Adani”.
“It is an ongoing process…it will go through the Attorney General and it will go to Cabinet. I assure you the cabinet is here to protect your interests. We will work together and find points of convergence. We have an agreement. We are aware that we have been taken to court. We will now present all the documents in court to ensure that the public understands.”
