Image: The-Star
Transport Minister CS Kipchumba Murkomen has finally revealed what Jomo Kenyatta International Airport's (JKIA) issue is.
In response to the frequent blackouts that the airport has been experiencing lately, the CS stated on Thursday that structural issues exist. He said that neglect was to blame for this.
Murkomen claims that another issue with JKIA's human resources is that, although having direct control over the aforementioned generators, the engineering department, for example, has very little staff assistance.
"The problems we see at the airport are systemic of poor investment that we didn't put in place for many years. Our airport has suffered immense neglect," he said on Spice FM.
"There is a problem when it comes to human resources at the airport. There is a feeling many people of a certain stature don't want to work at the airport.
When we came to the office of the 11 General Managers, five were acting and most of them were at an advanced age."
The CS claimed to have spoken with a former employee who acknowledged sabotage and others who were unwilling to work at the airport.
According to him, the airport's agencies are likewise unwilling to collaborate. Murkomen added that only Terminals 1A and 1 E are experiencing difficulties.
"The Runway, Control Tower, Terminal B and the other Terminal were not affected," he said.
"So, the question you ask yourself is why are the other Terminals working and this one is not? It's because they have dedicated generators to these terminals."
He said that, even though no one talks about it, Eldoret International Airport has experienced far worse blackouts on occasion, making it impossible for planes to take off.
Because they believe the current blackout was intentional, the CS supported the decision to consult the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.
He explained that this is because the airport is changing staff members frequently, and that this could happen.
According to Murkomen, because some individuals think the generators are subpar, they have also hired experts to evaluate them.
"The good thing is that out of these systemic problems at the beginning of this administration, we have an opportunity to have lasting changes to make JKIA one of the best airports."
