Kenyan citizen Nelson Amenya, who gained national prominence for exposing the controversial Adani deal in June 2024, has come out explaining the difference between the current Chinese firm deal and the controversial Adani deal.

In a statement on his official X account on Saturday, June 13, 2026, while responding to a concerned citizen who enquired if the new Chinese deal was better compared to the Adani deal.

In his response, Amenya explained that the new Chinese deal did not include a transfer of ownership, as was the case with the Adani deal.

At the same time, the Adani whistleblower explained that the controversy around the JKIA concession was never simply that it involved a private investor; the concern was whether the terms served the public interest.

“First, there is no transfer of ownership as was the case before. And the controversy around the JKIA concession was never simply that it involved a private investor. The concern was whether the terms served the public interest,” Amenya explained.

JKIA resources

In his explainer, Amenya noted that a significant portion of the project financing would come from JKIA’s own revenues(50 per cent), raising a legitimate question on how JKIA finances its own expansion.

“For instance, a significant portion of the project financing would come from JKIA’s own revenues(50%), raising a legitimate question: if the airport could partly finance its own expansion, why grant a 30yr concession to a private operator in the first place?,” he posed.

“I also pointed to concerns over transparency, valuation, revenue-sharing arrangements, and whether Adani had sufficient experience in developing and operating airports of JKIA’s scale. In other words, the debate was not about being anti-investment, but about whether Kenya was receiving fair value for a strategic national asset,” he added.

Ksh375B JKIA upgrade deal

His remarks come days after Kenya awarded a Ksh375 billion contract for the long-awaited upgrade of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) to China Communications Construction Company (CCCC).

Bloomberg reported that the project will be financed through a combination of proceeds from the proposed National Infrastructure Fund and commercial loans backed by securitised air passenger service charges.

Further, it stated that the contract had been awarded to CCCC, although the Kenyan government had not made a formal public announcement on the deal by the time of publication.

The development comes two years after Kenya cancelled the proposed concession deal with India’s Adani Group.