Nairobi Woman Representative Esther Passaris on Tuesday, November 12 highlighted an elaborate way in which the government can earn the trust of Kenyans after continued loss of trust two years into the Kenya Kwanza administration.
Passaris was responding to Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma's rant on Monday, November 11, about how Kenyans were seemingly quick to shoot down every attempt by the government to mitigate the effects of the biting economy.
"Kenyans don't want new finance laws to help the government raise revenue. Kenyans don't want public-private partnerships to get private entities to invest in the economy. What do we want?" Kaluma posted on Monday as he urged the courts to toss out cases challenging the Adani deal.
But in a rejoinder, Passaris, who has become a vocal supporter of the Kenya Kwanza regime, took an interesting take as he challenged the government to take action that would effectively build Kenyans' trust in the regime.
"It’s a situation of “you cannot have your cake and eat it,” across all the divides," Passaris observed.
Besides calling on the government to deal with corruption decisively, the Woman Rep also highlighted the need to pinpoint key details of investment versus deliverables.
While insisting that the Adani deal would be good for the country, Passaris further called on the government to make public all information about what the deal entailed so Kenyans could make an informed judgement.
She added, "Access to information is a constitutional right. Let the Executive come clean on all partnerships when asked to do so as a bare minimum."
Passaris' sentiments came just hours after a civil society group poked more holes into the Adani JKIA deal. Court documents filed by the Katiba Institute termed the Public-Private Partnership Act unconstitutional since it omitted parliament's oversight and approval processes.
The group specifically targeted Sections 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, and 72(1) of the Act, saying, ''PPPs are an aspect of public expenditure that Parliament has the constitutional authority to approve and oversee. Therefore, the PPP law is unconstitutional because it excludes Parliament from the approval and oversight of PPPs,’’ Katiba Institute argued.
Two high-profile targets - the Ksh95.68 billion development of three electricity transmission lines and two substations to be operated by Adani for three decades and the 30-year concession at JKIA - are alleged by the group to have been initiated under Privately Initiated Proposal (PIP), thus bypassing bidding and transparency.
Wiper Party Leader Kalonzo Musyoka and his DAP-K counterpart Eugene Wamalwa are also looking to stifle the Adani deal through the court.
The two politicians are representing aviation workers in a case and have vowed to fight to stop the JKIA takeover by Adani Airports Holding Company terming it 'state capture'.
