The power failure at the Moi International Airport, which plunged the facility into darkness and caused delays and cancellation of flights on Sunday evening, has embarrassed the country.

It is unfortunate that the massive expenditure by Kenya Airports Authority (KAA), the body mandated to manage local airports, on an upgrade and modernisation, has yet to address this perrenial problem. And as if fate has colluded against KAA, this crisis comes at a time when questions are being asked regarding a proposed multi-billion shilling fund to be administered by the authority without a clear line of accountability to Parliament.

Through a special Gazette notice, Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta announced the establishment of a Fund to be known as Kenya Airports Authority Fund. But, the minister did not explain what it would be used for nor justify its creation. Uhuru’s proposal follows recent amendments to the KAA Act and the Air Passenger Service Charge Act. These require that every traveller who purchases a ticket for an external or internal journey pay a passenger service tax of $20 (Sh1,560) or Sh100 respectively.

Questions are being raised as to why Uhuru chose not to mention the proposed fund when he presented his Budget proposals in Parliament last week and why he is ‘sneaking’ the creation of the Fund into the Finance Bill.

No transparency

In a normal scenario, the law demands that such a fund be managed by independent trustees who are answerable to Parliament for the sake of transparency and accountability. But the Minister, and indeed the board and management of KAA, seem to think otherwise. This is not acceptable and should not be allowed to pass.

The authority’s history on issues of governance and service delivery casts doubt on the ability of KAA to independently and transparently manage the hundreds of millions of shillings it will collect through the tax.

Indeed, the minister and the KAA board must be open and reveal to the public why a special fund should be created for the organisation. Parliament should thoroughly audit Uhuru’s proposal for the unorthodox KAA fund to ensure it is above board or, indeed, even necessary.

As much as KAA needs lots of money to improve and manage the nearly 500 airstrips and related facilities in the country, it should not be seen to be enjoying special status. It should be treated like all other strategic parastastals. The same treatment should be accorded to other State corporations that offer vital services, yet Treasury has apparently ignored them.

It is unfortunate that the twin events affecting the authority only serve to remind us of the many controversies KAA has been embroiled in recently. Claims of inflated costs of equipment and opaque tendering procedures, most recently on the use of the old airport terminal, are not alien to the organisation.

Back to the Moi International Airport debacle: It is not the first time the airport’s lighting system has failed. In fact, early this year, the facility cancelled night flights for nearly ten days after the system collapsed and a blame game ensured between Kenya Power and Lighting Company and KAA as to who was to blame for the mess. It is incredible that our second largest airport, which handles hundreds of flights, has a chronically dysfunctional lighting system. This sort of embarrassment should not be tolerated, considering KAA contracted international engineering firms to fix the problem.

Negative image

The least that users of the facility expect of the management is the deployment of a standby generator, if only to run the landing lights and the control tower. The explanation that the generator also failed, when it was needed most, only serves to confirm sloppiness and ineptitude on the part of the management.

Such failures project a negative image of the country and urgent measures must be taken to reverse the trend.