Reforms at KCAA to enhance air safety in Kenya

By John Oyuke

Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) will be restructured to boost its ability to ensure air safety.

The reform process would involve modernising radar facilities to enhance air traffic management and surveillance of Kenyan airspace.

Transport Minister Amos Kimunya said the Government also intends to improve airports and associated facilities for safer and high quality service delivery.

He said restructuring of KCAA is a critical part of the mechanism also meant to ensure improved aviation safety by attracting and retaining competent and well-trained personnel.

He cautioned that without competent staff, safety programmes and management systems or any other such plans would not bare fruits.

Kimunya made the remarks while opening a Civil Aviation State Safety Programme/Safety Management System (SSP/SMS) training forum in Nairobi yesterday.

He appealed to all stakeholders in the sector to support efforts to promote safety, saying though rivals in business, they must view each other as allies when it comes to management of safety.

Working together

"One inefficient and risky operator in the midst of several efficient and safety compliant operators could jeopardise all our operations," he said.

The five-day meeting comes at a time when statistics gathered by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and other aviation organisations, says Africa’s current aircraft accident rate is nearly 10 times more than the world average.

Kenya had its fair share of accidents too, with a number of them involving light aircrafts flying either from or to Wilson Airport.

A notable incident occurred in Rift Valley, when former Roads Minister, Kipkalya Kones was killed along with Assistant Minister of Home Affairs Lorna Laboso in a plane crash on June 10, 2008.