Security alertness in and around Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, like other airports around the world, was beefed up after the September 11, terrorists attacks in the US.
However, as CCI established, it remains easy to breach the airport’s security. Indeed, terrorists have been trying to breach the security.
Kihanya, the surveyor who tipped police about alleged terrorist activities at JKIA, says during a tour of the area, his clients who he suspected to be terrorists decided to test the security alertness at the airport by driving through an opening on the fence towards the airside where only authorised people are allowed.
"When I told them that the General Service Unit officers were guarding, they just laughed off saying they had seen bigger guns," Kihanya remembers. A few metres into the JKIA territory, the intruders were confronted by two mean looking GSU officers ready to shoot.
"I pleaded with the police not to shoot us, explaining we had strayed from Embakasi. They waved us through but with a stern warning never to pass there again," he says. To test the security alertness at the airport, CCI visited JKIA and found part of the fence near Syokimau down and there was no presence of police officers.
Easy entry
Along the airport’s fence, CCI identified a gate near a dam that has a dirt road leading to the airside.
At the gate, our team was ushered in by a grey haired old guard in uniform. Without any questions, the old man waved us in after taking the registration number of our car.
As we drove through, there was a beeline of civilians departing from the airport heading towards Embakasi.
Not a single security officer challenged us to stop as we cruised through the airport past the control towers and finally approached the cargo terminus gate. A bored KAPS attendant demanding to see our parking ticket was bewildered when we informed her we had none.
"You must pay parking fee of Sh70. I do not understand how you entered. This is highly irregular but you must pay," she told us. Within five minutes we had breached JKIA’s perimeter fence, sneaked in and out of the airport without a single police officer noting.
At Syokimau near the fence, no one bothered to find out what our team was doing as we took pictures of planes flying out.
Kenya Airports Authority’s head of corporate communications, Dominic Ngigi, said the role of regulating developments around the airports was vested with the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority.
"Please call Kenya Civil aviation Authority. They are the ones who are in a position to know how these things are regulated," he said.
But at the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority, CCI was tossed back to Kenya Airport Authority.
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"KAA are the people who own the airports. Please contact them as there is nothing further I can tell you," an officer who refused to give his name said.
Our efforts to get official communication were futile as the head of communications at KCAA and his deputy were said to be out of office.
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