President Uhuru Kenyatta has asked Parliament to fast-track passage of proposed laws that seek to return the national carrier to government ownership and cut the cost of doing business in the country.
The Head of State urged Parliament to pass the National Aviation Management Bill 2020 and the Business (Amendment) Bill No. 2 of 2020.
Mr Kenyatta said the passage of the National Aviation Management Bill 2020 would bolster plans to turnaround the operations of the debt-ridden airline.
“I urge Parliament to prioritise the consideration of various seminal Bills that are pending before the legislature, such as the National Aviation Management Bill, which once enacted, will anchor the turnaround of the Pride of Africa – our national carrier, Kenya Airways,” he told a joint sitting of the National Assembly during a State of the Nation Address Thrsday.
The Bill proposes that KQ becomes one of three subsidiaries in an Aviation Holding Company. The others would be Kenya Airports Authority, which will operate all the country’s airports, including Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi, under an investment arm dubbed Aviation Investment Corporation.
The Bill flew into headwinds in September after a section of MPs raised the red flag on the lack of input by Kenyans and other stakeholders in line with the Constitution.
The legal hitch has occasioned delay in the plan by the government to nationalise the loss-making Kenya Airways as regional competitors seeking to carve out market share pour cash into their national carriers.
A section of lawmakers rejected the Bill, arguing that Parliament had received petitions from professional bodies like the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), which argued that the parliamentary Transport Committee rejected their views.
This prompted Speaker Justin Muturi to order the Transport Committee to reconsider the Bill and accord aggrieved stakeholders further opportunity to give their views.
Parliament is, under Article 118 of the Constitution, compelled to invite the public in the process of changing laws, including holding public sittings, inviting submission of memoranda and expert views.
The government had a target of completing the deal by end of October, hoping to emulate the success of State-owned Ethiopian Airlines, sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest airline.KQ was privatised 24 years ago but sank into debt and losses in 2014 after a failed expansion drive, costly purchase of aircraft and a slump in travellers after a major terror attack.TRAVEL SUSPENDEDIn August, it saw its first-half loss nearly double from a year earlier to Sh14.36 billion, on months […]