L-R: KALPA chairman Captain Timothy Njoroge, General Secretary Captain Murithi Nyagah, assistant General Secretary Captain Dzochera Warrakah and Executive Council Member Captain Matthew Karimi, during a past appearance in Parliament/FILE Kenya Airways pilots are now seeking audience with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as the airline remains in losses, with poor management blamed for a failed turnaround.
The pilots’ lobby–Kenya Airline Pilots Association (KALPA) has written to the Bretton Woods institution, poking holes on the leadership of the airline which has reported losses for seven consecutive years, pre-Covid to date, with a cumulative net loss of Sh127 billion.
Putting in place a viable turnaround strategy is one of the conditions for the Sh255 billion loan to Kenya from the IMF in March, which the government has committed to audit and reform the operations of nine key State-Owned Enterprises, among the Kenya Airways, to ensure their viability.
KALPA notes a number of proposed measures to help turnaround the airline have been ignored, with management failing to come up with neither a short-term nor long-term strategy.
Such is the case as per the 2015 Senate Assembly inquiry into the affairs of KQ and its subsidiaries where various key stakeholders, KALPA included, tabled submissions and proposals that paved way for recommendations as compiled in the resulting Senate inquiry report. So as to articulate the issues clearly and officially furnish you with our proposal, we seek audience with you and your team at your earliest opportunity. A key element that arose from the inquiry is the general mismanagement at the airline, KALPA notes.
“It is unfortunate that to date, most of the Senate report recommendations have never been implemented, despite the thorough and comprehensive audit of the airline done through the inquiry,” KALPA general secretary and CEO, Captain Murithi Nyagah, says in the letter.
“Interesting to note, but not surprising, the same has been the common denominator amongst other documented audit reports and findings that have been conducted,” Nyagah adds, “As your team engages the government of Kenya in evaluating KQ, it is important that the 2015 Kenya Senate report is included and factored as you formulate solutions.”
The 43-year old association, representing over 400 KQ pilots, notes the airline’s management has failed to implement reforms despite spending millions of dollars in audits and consultancies.
Some of these include Seabury Consulting in 2015 and Mckinsey Consulting(2015-2016).
A Deloitte forensic audit report (2016) revealed levels of corruption amongst sections of KQ management, some […]