By Swaleh
Safaricom board chair Adil Khawaja has publicly defended the employment of Nick Ruto, son of President William Ruto, at Dentons, Hamilton Harrison & Mathews, the law firm representing Adani Airports Holdings in its bid for the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA). Khawaja, who is the managing partner at the firm and a long-time friend of the president, asserted that Nick’s recruitment followed a fair process.
“I didn’t even know that he had applied. We receive thousands of applications each year, and he was one of the applicants. He went through the process and was selected,” Khawaja told the Daily Nation.
Khawaja emphasized that Dentons HHM has extensive experience with Public-Private Partnership (PPP) initiatives, further justifying Adani’s choice of the law firm for this significant case. “Adani is one of the biggest companies in the world. They are already running the port in Tanzania, and they want to expand across the East African region,” he noted.
As the legal battle over the JKIA lease intensifies, the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) and the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) have filed a case challenging the deal. High Court Judge J. Chigiti has issued conservatory orders, directing all parties involved to respond promptly. Adani, for its part, insists that the deal was approved by the Kenya Airport Authority (KAA) and denies claims that its proposal was rushed through in just 17 days.
