SHA was part of the controversial Adani deals - Kalonzo

Speaking on Citizen TV's JKLive show, Kalonzo referenced how foreign players were set to benefit from the Adani deals at the expense of the taxpayers.

Likewise, he urged Kenyans to scrutinize the hidden interests behind SHA, which he claimed were the reason President William Ruto pushed for its implementation.

“Remember this SHA thing was part of the Adani deals along with the JKIA, which we stopped in court until Ruto had to withdraw it in Parliament. It's part of that scam,” Kalonzo stated. 

“I told you it's part of the Adani deals. If you followed the story of the Adani deals, you'd have realised that a telco had the software to run SHA. Somebody in Dubai is supposed to get a cut, this is the whole thing. If not, let us see the results. What is the problem?” 

The former Vice President insisted that the current government mishandled the transition from the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) to SHA, arguing that reforms would have been a better approach.

“Our thinking is very clear, we have called this whole thing about SHA a scam, and it is coming out to be exactly that. Whatever William Ruto and his administration have tried to touch is not working. NHIF could have been reformed, and Kenyans would not be struggling the way they are,” he said.

He further suggested that should he assume office in 2027, he will direct Parliament to amend the SHA Act and revert to NHIF while instituting necessary reforms.

“It's not difficult to get Parliament to redo the whole thing. Have an amendment to that SHA Act and perhaps revert to NHIF with reforms. The bottom line is the stealing of public funds. It's like these people are in a hurry to steal everything,” Kalonzo pointed out. 

Kalonzo's views on the Adani-JKIA deal differ from those of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who recently stated that Kenya missed a great opportunity to transform the airport to global standards. 

“I was very disappointed when we were not able to move on with the airport contract. That was very unfortunate...You know, we had awarded the Greenfield Airport contract before we left government with Kibaki in 2012. That contract was cancelled," Raila stated at an executive retreat in Nairobi in June 2025. 

"Then it was given again to the same contractor later, but again cancelled somewhere because of disagreements in the middle." 

Adani had proposed a Ksh.260 billion deal to renovate JKIA for 30 years and provide Ksh.95 billion to develop the country's transmission lines, all under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model.

However, President Ruto later cancelled the deals after reports emerged that United States authorities had charged Gautam Adani, the chair of Indian conglomerate Adani Group, with allegedly paying Ksh.30 billion in bribes to the Indian government to secure solar energy supply contracts.