By Jackson Okoth
A parliamentary committee has asked the top management at Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) to explain the circumstances under which the former Managing Director George Muhoho gave a signed a letter giving up part of the authority’s land weeks after he had left office.
The Public Investment Committee (PIC) described the deal as a fraudulent transaction. While making its presentation before the PIC yesterday, the Auditor-General had questioned how Muhoho signed consent to charge a KAA land title as security for a Sh510 million loan, advanced to Transglobal Cargo Centre Ltd by Standard Chartered Bank Ltd.
“We would like to know who owns Transglobal Cargo Centre Ltd and why the charge was signed and executed months after Muhoho had left office,” said Francis Nyenze, MP Kitui West and Leader of Minority in National Assembly.
Acting KAA Managing Director Lucy Mbugua was at pains to explain to the PIC how the transaction could have been executed. This forced the committee to adjourn its proceedings for five minutes to enable her make consultations with the office.
While Transglobal Cargo Centre, owned by Peter Muthoka, had an initial lease to build, operate and transfer the cargo handling facility at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) for 20 years, the agreement has since been restructured.
The contract has been extended to 40 years with the company free to apply for a further extension of 20 years. “We must admit that this lease agreement has been poorly constructed and we are holding discussion with Transglobal for purposes of restructuring it,” said Ms Mbugua.
“If we fail to agree, we will consider taking legal action against the cargo handling firm.”
The KAA management has been three weeks to furnish the PIC with details on the transaction.
The committee is also seeking clarification on encroachment of airport land at JKIA, Wilson airport, Eldoret Airport and other aviation facilities across the country.
