Airfield turns battlefield as police take on protesters

Police vehicle carrying reinforcement riot gears at JKIA after Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) staff downed their tools over the proposed merger of KQ and KAA. [Jonah Onyango/Standard]

Chaos reigned at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) for the better part of yesterday after protesting workers abandoned their workstations and left hundreds of travellers stranded.

The Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) workers stopped frisking travellers and picketed outside the airport to protest the plan to have the struggling Kenya Airways (KQ) to take over KAA.

The environment at the departure area was chaotic, with passengers screaming, demanding to know whether their flights were still on.

The sorry state of affairs at the airport spread to the dust bins, which were overflowing with litter. However, a few workers were seen trying to empty the bins and tidy up JKIA, Kenya's gateway to the world.

But things came to a head, when anti-riot police officers were called in and descended on the picketing KAA staff with batons, to the shock of the stranded local and international travellers most who were sitting on pavements waiting to know their fate.

For some time, JKIA was turned into a battleground as the military men chased and clobbered the protesters. One passenger was injured after being caught up in the melee.

Later in the day, Kenya Air Force personnel stepped in and replaced the striking workers.

Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia said Kenya Aviation Workers Union (KAWU) had issued a strike notice earlier jointly with Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu).

The strike was declared illegal but the union went ahead and mobilised workers, especially those who did passenger and luggage screenings.

“It is very unfortunate because last week they had issued the same strike notice in collaboration with Cotu. I met with them and agreed that they would lift the strike,” Mr Macharia said.

KAWU Secretary General Moses Ndiema was arrested in the morning.

In a statement he released before his arrest, Mr Ndiema termed the proposed merger between KAA and KQ a scandalous proposal aimed at robbing Kenyans of the international airport.

Project Simba

“The takeover plan dubbed Project Simba is an outright fraud. The genesis of the problem bedeviling the airline is well known. Corrupt procurement arrangements, poor decision making and open looting by cartels that now want to extend their insatiable appetite to KAA at the expense of Kenyans,” he said.

Macharia complained that the workers boycotted work despite being assured that the KAA and KQ merger would not affect their jobs.

“We even showed them how employment would go up eventually if the merger happens, so this was completely uncalled for,” the CS said.

Macharia said the Government would not allow the workers to put the security of the airport at stake.

Cotu Secretary General Francis Atwoli said 10 union officials were arrested during the fracas at JKIA and called for their immediate release.

Mr Atwoli yesterday threatened to make a statement to lobby the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and Organisation of African Trade Union to boycott KQ services in their countries if they refuse to release the officials.

“If they refuse to release the union officials, then I will have no otherwise but to release my official statement which I know will have far reaching implications. I am the President of the African Trade Unions Organisation and I am sure they will listen to me. They should know I am coming from a pressure group,” Atwoli said.

Mr Atwoli criticised the Government for deploying KDF personnel at the airport. “These people are not criminals. Clobbering them in front of the visitors paints a very bad picture for the country that purports to enjoy democracy. They acted within the framework of the trade union movement to demand their rights,” he said.

KQ Managing Director Sebastian Mikosz said by 3pm flights to Kisumu, Amsterdam, Addis Ababa, London and Mumbai were scheduled to resume.

“All our morning flights have since been rescheduled,” he said.

Mikosz said the disruptions delayed about 24 flights and two arriving flights were diverted to other locations.

“I want ask our customers to be on the lookout for the time their flights are departing, we will be updating them from time to time,” said Mikosz.

KAA Managing Director Johnny Anderson they expect the situation to return to normal today morning.

“We had more or less no operations at the airport from around 4am in the morning. We are used to dealing with operational issues, so we will deal with this one too and we will reach normal operation by tomorrow morning,” he said.

Anderson and Mikosz apologised to their customers over the incident.

They also took the decision that re-booking of flights on Kenya Airways on all stations would be done for free throughout yesterday.

[Report by Graham Kajilwa, Anyango Otieno and Lucas Ngasike]