Fire tragedy at airport reflects serious management failures

By BILLOW KERROW

I have no qualms with authorities that a fire could occur at our main international airport. Several international airports in major cities, including Delhi, Kuala Lumpur, Miami, Bangkok and others have experienced fire incidents in recent years. In January 2012, a fire gutted the VIP lounge at Moi International airport, and in February this year, another fire destroyed KRA Customs warehouse at JKIA. Hence, fires will occur time and again, anywhere. My beef is with our response to such disasters — utterly appalling to say the least!

The image of military officers carrying buckets of water to douse the flames, in the largest international airport in East and Central Africa, was shocking.

It took two hours for the firemen to respond to the emergency, according to eyewitnesses, and took a whole five hours to put out the fire. What reportedly started as a simple fire in an Immigration office spread gradually to destroy the entire arrivals terminal as the bewildered nation watched the chaotic response in horror. As usual, investigations will be done; no further action taken and the incident well behind us as we await the next tragedy. We invest billions of shillings annually into this airport, yet its safety and security situation is pathetic.

We are now told that the airport firemen did not act fast as required and were grossly negligent to say the least. The fire hydrants in the building had no water. The trucks did not have modern facilities to enable the firemen reach fires at any level of a building. The building did not have easy access designed for such safety concerns. And worse still, KAA or DCA were not even in charge of the crisis! A Cabinet secretary who was more hands-on in roads construction was supervising the disaster response, any which way he could.

Perhaps, we should not have expected anything better. KAA is a political outfit that serves more often than not as a cash cow to the authorities. Its board is apointed by the minister, usually on political expediency rather than merit. The last MD was recruited defiantly through such political intrigues. Only late last year, we were treated to a supremacy circus between the MD and his board on a multi-billion shilling expansion project. Clearly, management of this vital institution is anything but professional.

In the Sh55 billion project, the offices of the Head of Public Service, that of the PM, the MD and the Board, had all different and conflicting roles. In the Artur brothers saga, the State House was reportedly involved. I will not put the World Duty-Free shops saga also past the State operatives — how does an international airport so crudely throw out dozens of businesses and destroy/loot their goods even if you had a court order? A couple of years ago, the Board and MD had similar conflicting roles when they threw out some Qatari multi-billion shilling complex facility at the groundbreaking stage. Briefly put, KAA has perennial management crisis, regrettably for an institution of its calibre.

Back to the disaster preparedness, the MD and/or his team, and the DCA team, ought to have been shown the door by now for such glaring failures, the causes of the fire notwithstanding. I would be surprised if the President is not badly embarassed by this disaster. It is not time to listen to stories from those responsible for such institutional disasters; he should act fast and furiously in such circumstances. There should not be second chances for such blunders. Sadly, KAA is in-charge too, of all airports in the country.

If there is anything that this government ought to handle as a matter of urgency, it is the critical resources required in the disaster preparedness, both in terms of equipment facilities and a co-ordinated management structure. Our major cities and key installations should have modern fire engines and appropriately trained staff, as well as a strong regulatory authority. We are mercifully at risk in Nairobi, as witnessed in the past.

It is as if we have resigned to our fate in this regard.