Something was amiss before the JKIA fire, someone should’ve noticed

By Angela Ambitho

Shattered glass, broken panels, empty boxes, scattered papers, trash and dirt strewn all over the floor.

Perturbed and confused, we asked ourselves why our international departures unit at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) looked like something a truck had run over. We questioned why the duty-free shops had been brutally brought down leaving one of Africa’s acclaimed airports existing in such a sorry state.

We wondered what overarching state of emergency could have warranted the sacrificing of the airport’s all so important image over the shoddy eviction of an unwanted tenant.

Void of all the pertinent details yet fully cognisant that the airport authority’s service charter aims at “enhancing customer experience in the technical and facilitation areas” we concluded that management had made some miscalculated decisions that sent passengers a deplorable message. This was two weeks ago as we embarked in and out through Unit two. Something was obviously amiss.

Shattered glass, broken panels… you know the drill. Nothing had changed. The airport still looked messy and destabilised. As I sat through my flight, I wondered what impression first-time visitors were making from our ghastly sight and how frequent passengers were feeling in this mumbo-jumbo.

I was keen to benchmark ours with perhaps the best airport in Africa; Oliver Tambo in Johannesburg. As you can imagine, the difference was like night and day. Clean, modern, spacious, well equipped, hi-tech and organised. I quietly imagined whether they would allow their airport to exist in ruin and disorder. “Not even for a split second!” was the quick response I blurted to myself. These guys meant business. Having concluded my business and made it back to catch my returning flight the following day, I was disappointed to learn that our flight would be delayed indefinitely.

Luckily, there was a lot to do.

Shop upon shop to feed my weakness for shopping; bookstore upon bookshop to feed my thirst for knowledge; restaurant upon restaurant to feed my hunger for food. And when I couldn’t walk any more, the lounge offered the cosiest bedlike couch to feed my need for rest. The five hours I had spent felt like nothing more than two. As I lay my head to sleep, I shuddered at the ordeal of spending 5 hours at JKIA. We needed to borrow best practice to remain competitive, I thought.

Upon boarding our flight, we were informed that the delay had been occasioned by shortage of jet fuel. We were headed back to our airport that looks like a hell hole, boarding a flight that had been terribly delayed due to lack of fuel. This was last Tuesday. As you can imagine I thought to myself, something’s amiss. Plumes of dark smoke billowing from JKIA. Fire engines arriving in droves to save the situation. Stranded passengers, airline crew and media thronging every empty space to determine next steps. Transport and Interior Cabinet Secretaries providing updates. President Uhuru Kenyatta providing moral support. This was last Wednesday. JKIA was ablaze.

Whilst it’s obvious that the fire was no act of terrorism, could the less obvious reason for the bizarre sequence of events be greed? Greed to control, evade and even confuse? Your guess is as good as mine. What’s certain is that something was amiss before the fire and someone should have noticed!

The writer is the founder and CEO of Infotrak Research and Consulting