AFPKenyan economics student Nelson Amenya has been hailed as a hero by those campaigning for greater transparency in his government’s dealings with private companies.
Kenya’s recent history is littered with reports of large contracts resulting from corruption – and despite laws designed to prevent it, there are suspicions it continues to happen.
Mr Amenya, 30, who is studying for an MBA in France, posted on social media in July details of what he said was a proposed deal between Kenya and the Adani Group, an Indian multinational.
At issue was the management of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), the largest airport in the country and the region, whose complete overhaul was long overdue.
“The first feeling I had (when the documents were handed to me) was that it was just another government deal… I didn’t understand the scale or seriousness of the deal,” said Mr Amenya, whose profile as an anti-corruption activist is already high The rise was published, says the BBC.
The documents detailed a $2 billion (£1.6 billion) proposal by Adani Group to lease JKIA for 30 years to modernize and operate it.
When he started going through the papers, he felt that it would “hurt the Kenyan economy” if it went ahead, while all the benefits would accrue to the Indian multinational.
From his reading, the deal seemed unfair as Kenya would still pocket most of the money but would not reap the financial benefits.
Mr. Amenya had good reason to believe the papers were genuine because “the people who gave me these documents were from very legitimate government departments,” he says.
The Adani Group is involved in infrastructure, mining and energy projects worldwide in countries such as Israel, the United Arab Emirates, France, Tanzania, Australia and Greece. Its founder Gautam Adani is a major player in the Indian economy and a close ally of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Through further reading, Mr. Amenya said he discovered that the Adani deal with Kenya could have required his country to pay the company if it had not recouped its investment.
“This was a major breach of trust with the people by the leadership of the President, the Kenya Airports Authority and the Minister – they all betrayed the people,” he claims.
Despite the evidence in his hands, Mr. Amenya struggled with what to do next. His own safety was at risk, although he fared better in France than in Kenya, where anti-corruption activists were attacked and some killed.
“I was a little scared. I didn’t know what was going to happen. I’m risking my career, I’m risking my life, why should I take the risk of doing that?” he asked himself at the time.
However, in the end he felt that silence was not an option.
“You know, only cowards live long.”
After weeks of reviewing the documents sent to him, Mr. Amenya leaked the documents on his X-page in July, sparking immediate outrage in Kenya.
JKIA airport workers went on strike demanding cancellation of the deal.
Getty Images“It felt like a duty for me, for my country. Even though I’m far away, I still have a duty to my country. I want to see a better Kenya, my homeland developed, industrialized and an end to corruption.” “
He feared that the airport deal was a harbinger of what could come next.
Mr Amenya says it is not just the unusual conditions and lack of transparency that are raising alarm bells, but also, he claims, the fact that Kenyan laws appear to have been systematically ignored.
“(The authorities) never conducted due diligence on this company… they did not follow the proper procurement process.”
He claims some government officials hoped to circumvent legal requirements, including public consultation, that are designed to prevent taxpayer money from being misspent.
An April Kenya Airports Authority report on the proposed deal highlighted that there was no plan to consult stakeholders on the plan.
“That was in April, and in July when I revealed this, they had not yet done any public participation. The deal was quite secret and at that point they were just a month away from signing the deal,” Mr Amenya claims.
“After I uncovered this deal, they rushed to conduct a fake public engagement – they called Kenya Airports Authority staff and started holding meetings with stakeholders.”
Various officials and branches of the state denied corruption allegations and the authorities signed another multimillion-dollar contract with the Adani Group – this time to build power lines.
Adani Group said Mr Amenya’s claims were baseless and malicious.
A spokesperson told the BBC that “the proposal was submitted under Kenya’s public-private partnership regulations and aimed to create a world-class airport and significantly strengthen the Kenyan economy through the creation of numerous new jobs.”
The Adani Group further says that no contract was signed as “discussions did not result in a binding agreement.”
The company also says that the proposal for the energy deal was correct and that the company “categorically rejects any allegations or suggestions of any violation of Kenyan laws in our operations or proposals.”
“Every project we undertake is subject to a strong commitment to compliance, transparency and the laws of the respective countries in which we operate,” the statement said.
But it wasn’t Mr. Amenya’s revelation that actually changed the government’s mind.
It was only when US authorities charged Gautam Adani for his alleged involvement in a $250m (£200m) bribery scheme that Kenya acted.
Representatives of the Adani Group rejected the US prosecutors’ allegations, calling them “baseless.”
At a state of the nation address last month, Kenyan President William Ruto announced the cancellation of both Adani deals.
“In the face of undisputed evidence or credible information about corruption, I will not hesitate to take decisive action,” Ruto said in a speech that drew loud cheers in Parliament.
Kenyans celebrated the decision, which Ruto attributed to new information from investigative agencies and partner countries.
“I was in class when this announcement came. I couldn’t believe it,” says Mr Amenya.
“I think I had tears in my eyes for the first hour. I was so happy.”
Although he doesn’t see himself as a hero, messages of support poured in from everywhere, including India.
Forty minutes after class ended, he posted his now famous tweet “Adios Adani!!” – Goodbye Adani.
“It was momentous…Everything I did finally paid off.”
However, the feeling of triumph came after months of personal struggle and pressure.
Shortly after the airport deal was exposed, Mr. Amenya was sued for defamation by an Adani Group official and a Kenyan politician, leading him to question whether he should move forward.
“Some people from the government came to me, they were even willing to pay me, they told me: ‘You have to pay out money and just end this fight with the government,'” he remembers.
“Giving up would have been the biggest mistake of my life, a betrayal of the Kenyan people.”
But even after scrapping the agreements, President Ruto still wonders why Kenyans rejected this and many other projects he championed. He says he will find a way to upgrade the airport.
“I saw them saying that those who stopped the expansion of our airport are heroes. Heroes? What do you gain by stopping the construction of an airport in your country?” Ruto asked at a public event in early December.
“They have no idea how it’s going to be built and those who oppose it have never set foot in an airport, they just want to resist.”
Mr Amenya, who is still facing defamation suits, is now raising funds to cover his legal fees and says his future in Kenya is uncertain.
“I have received threats from credible intelligence agencies and people in Kenya warning me not to return because there are obviously some people who are very angry about what I have done,” he says.
A high price, but Mr. Amenya says he would happily pay it again.
“We don’t really have to wait for someone to save us,” he says.
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