Shame of stranded travellers and why it could have been avoided

Yesterday’s flight disruptions at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) caused great inconvenience to hundreds of passengers, among them tourists and patients caught unawares by a strike called to protest the proposed takeover of the airport by struggling national airline Kenya Airways (KQ).

More than 30 flights – most of them international- were affected by the long delays and the long queues at departure and arrival bays.

Yet it didn’t have to get to that. The unmitigated crisis could have been avoided. The Kenya Aviation Workers Union (KAWU) members fear that should the merger go ahead, it will lead to job losses.The strike is a symptom of the underlying problem.

The employees’ are echoing the concerns of many stakeholders, including business leaders, MPs and this newspaper who find the planned merger a very strange union considering that KQ – which wants to take over the airport from Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) is an under-performer, having posted a Sh4 billion loss in 2018. It also has a Sh23 billion debt hole- Sh4 billion of this is owed to KAA.

It is the contention of this newspaper and other stakeholders that KQ lacks the capital necessary to make the takeover of East Africa’s busiest airport viable or of compelling business sense.

Matters have not been helped by the opaque nature of the proposal. It is not clear whether Cabinet gave the nod for the takeover. Or if so, whether all the numerous, complex steps were exhausted.

Indeed, those in the know acknowledge that there has been little information about the impact of the bid to critical stakeholders like employees, other airlines operating from JKIA, creditors and most importantly, the public who hold a substantive stake in both entities. Yesterday proved those fears right.

The manner in which the proposed deal- where KQ will operate, maintain and develop JKIA under a Privately Initiated Investment Proposal (PIIP) has been hurried through- raises more questions than answers. At whose behest is it being done?

And even though KQ has proposed to have a Special Purpose Vehicle to run JKIA- obviously so as not to imperil KAA- ghosts from the past about how a similar venture went awry come to mind.

Our considered opinion is that the merger be put on hold until all the concerns are addressed.Two weeks ago, a parliamentary committee probing the deal was stunned after Kenya Airports Authority MD Jonny Andersen bizarrely admitted that other than a letter from PSs Paul Maringa and Esther Koimett advising him about the new developments, there was nothing else in his possession.

That, if nothing else, should raise serious questions.When the dust settles, it is certain that the airline will suffer huge losses from the events of yesterday, further imperiling its weak P&L situation. The effects of disrupting operations of a major airport like JKIA will be felt far and wide as connecting passengers miss their flights and have to rebook or reroute.

The employees- like the other stakeholders- have genuine grievances that must be addressed openly and promptly.

The use of force to break up the demonstrations was uncalled for and unjustified. Pictures of bloodied KAA employees caught up in the melee being pulled out of planes by GSU officers do little to buttress JKIA’s image as the region’s transport hub.

Going forward, it is obvious that deploying GSU and Kenya Airforce personnel provides a short-term solution. The elephant in the room is the ownership conundrum.

It must be addressed conclusively considering national interest and the business interests of the various stakeholders. Taxpayers want to understand what happens when a loss-making and majority privately-owned entity like KQ takes over a publicly-owned company like KAA: Employees want to be sure that they will have their jobs in the new order; while the creditors want to know the status of their legal contracts.

The board and management of KAA need to come out openly and tell Kenyans what it knows about the proposed merger.

Together with its KQ counterpart, they should give the country a comprehensive cost benefit analysis even as they seek complete buy-in from all the stakeholders.

On the other hand, the government needs to come out clean on the deal. Forget those who think the deal is bad. There are those (many) who are convinced that there is something fishy cooking. Putting everything aside, that alone needs to be demystified urgently.

The courts have declared the strike illegal. The KAWU leadership should heed court orders as a show of good faith and respect for the rule of law even as it agitates for the interests of its members