Nairobi, Dec. 28 -- On the sidelines of the 2022 US-Africa Summit, President William Ruto held a meeting with executives from Delta Airlines, the largest carrier in the US by market value, where he sought to sell the government's 48.9 percent stake in Kenya Airways (KQ).

This speaks to two things: first, the government has realised that it can no longer underwrite Kenya Airways for eternity and two, there is a conflict between the perceived strategic value of KQ and its return to investors (and the government is now willing to sacrifice the former).

That said, I do not see Delta, under current circumstances, agreeing to acquire the Government of Kenya's stake in KQ. First of all, Delta is a very profitable airline. For the nine months t...