Kisii Senator Richard Onyonka on Friday, September 6, 2024, took on Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua during a funeral ceremony in Trans Nzoia County.

During the ceremony, Onyonka told Gachagua to his face to ask President William Ruto to abandon the current university funding model and put the planned takeover of airports in the country including the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) on hold.

“Your excellency, how can we sell our airports; how can we take 14 airstrips and give them to an Indian company nobody knows the agreement and what has been signed; we have 5,000 employees with the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) and nobody knows where these people are going to go,” Onyonka quipped.

The government has planned to introduce Adani Group to manage airports in the country, in a deal which is estimated to last 30 years. During this period, the Indian company is poised to make a raft of changes and upgrades at the JKIA.

Some of the changes proposed to be carried out, according to government spokesperson Isaac Mwaura, are the construction of a new runway, new passenger terminal, refurbishment of existing passenger terminals and luggage handling facilities.

The agreement which has not been made public will see the Adani Group Holdings build, operate and later hand over the facility back to the government after recouping its investment.

The group is reported to be planning to invest at least Ksh96 billion to upgrade JKIA.

“Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), a key national asset constructed in 1978 and managed by the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA), has seen significant infrastructure deterioration over the past 45 years,” Mwaura said on Thursday, September 5, 2024.

Onyonka on funding model

Onyonka also lamented the inconsistencies witnessed in the current university education funding model, stating that it was disadvantaging students from humble backgrounds.

He pointed out a specific case where two twins, he noted, had been admitted to the same university to pursue the same course but had been slotted into different bands.

“One went to band five, the other remained in band one; tell me how you sold that,” Onyonka challenged Gachagua.

Adding: “Tell the president we have no issues with him; we only have issues with his policies: There is something wrong with this policy (university funding model) and we are asking the government to change this policy and ensure that poor people are taken of by the republic.”