Adani’s problems in Kenya undermine Narendra Modi’s ambitions for Africa

The two deals, worth some $2.5bn, were meant to boost Kenya’s creaking infrastructure. Yet the country’s MPs roared with delight on November 21st as William Ruto, the president, told them his government would not lease Kenya’s main international airport to the Adani Group, an Indian conglomerate, and would cancel a separate agreement with an Adani company to build new transmission lines. After months of controversy over the allegedly unfavourable terms of the deals, the decision was clinched when American prosecutors filed charges against Gautam Adani, the group’s boss, for conspiring to bribe Indian officials (he denies the charges).