Why wait until disaster wipes out our economy?

By WAFULA NABUTOLA

The recent fire incident at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) has brought back the sad and painful memories of past fire tragedies when the loss of young lives in schools – Kyanguli, Bombolulu, Asumbi — and disasters on our roads, like the fuel tanker at Sachang’wan, are still fresh.

There have also been other non-fire related tragedies, notably, the 1998  USA Embassy bombing in Nairobi, the Kikambala bombing in North Coast, the Mtongwe Ferry disaster and the Kakamega (Malava) and Murang’a landslides that buried Kenyans alive. In JKIA’s case, the saving grace is that no life was lost.

The costs in direct and indirect loss of business, loss of reputation, as an investments destination and increased insurance premiums, have set the economy several decades back.

The biggest challenge, though, is that we never know where or when the next disaster will occur and of what magnitude. Invariably, each disaster is followed with Government announcing the setting up of a committee or commission to look into the cause(s). Sadly, that is where it ends until the next disaster strikes. Media coverage moves from front-page headlines to fillers in the inner pages and then off air until another disaster strikes.

There is the loss of livelihoods, the ordinary Kenyan picking up the pieces and attempting to get on with their lives. There is also the loss of opportunities for local and foreign investors, and labour suppliers.

Here are my thoughts about the JKIA fire disaster:

Design and materials

The airport design does not allow easy entry and exit. Moreover, the choice of materials was wanting. The way the fire spread so quickly points to materials that catch and spread fire rapidly and rabidly.

Response time

The response time, and its quality, was sluggish and shamelessly slow for the busiest and largest airport in the region. It was a disgrace to see our armed forces personnel going at the fire using buckets. Calls to mind our level of preparedness.

Disaster policy

The Security Sector Board at the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (Kepsa) has been working on a Disaster Policy and Legislation. It remains in draft form, but for how long? Smaller countries (the the Gambia, for example) are aware that a disaster can wipe out their whole gross domestic product and have made sure they have policies and legislation in place. Why not Kenya, which is larger and has more to lose?

Priorities

What are our priorities as a nation? What is our attitude towards disasters? I am sure if President Uhuru Kenyatta gave instructions, we could have policy guidelines, laws and rules in place, where, for example, all buildings (private and public) are inspected annually and occupation certificates renewed to ensure compliance. But why should it take the President to have these obviously important policies in place? Who is sleeping on the job? We should have systems and procedures — from the tiniest village to the mega cities — on what should be done in the event of a fire or other disasters.

But even as I write this, there are schools that have their students locked up at night, never mind the likely outcomes in the event of a fire. The young Kenyans, with bright future before them, would perish…and we shall form another committee or commission.

— The writer is the Consultant-in-Chief at MyRita Consultants.