National Assembly Transport Committee Chairman David Pkosing. The nationalisation process of the troubled national carrier, Kenya Airways (KQ), has reached the homestretch with the National Assembly and the government preparing to present a Bill to Parliament after recess. Behind the scene is a steering committee mooted mid-last year to work on the financial status of the national carrier and fine-tune details of the cost and model ahead of its nationalisation. The process is expected to take 21 months. National Assembly Transport Committee chairman David Pkosing told Weekend Business that the Bill is ready and will be tabled in Parliament once lawmakers resume business. “The Bill is set to legislate the complete takeover of the national carrier by the government so that we can revamp it. It will not only take it to past glory but grow it bigger,” said Pkosing. Mr Pkosing said the legal team had proposed changes to the Bill that could see the creation of a college of aviation, putting the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) and KQ under a holding company, alongside other laws. He said the government will have to make eight legislations, allowing the State to implement the changes. In the revival plan that was passed by the House last June, the holding company will bring together other players in the industry. The House also passed the Pkosing report that proposed the creation of a Kenya Aviation Holding Group – a holding company modelled alongside the Ethiopian and Egyptian aviation industry. The holding company would bring together institutes held by KQ, KAA, Jomo Kenyatta International Aviation (JKIA) and a centralised Aviation Services College. The Pkosing report was a culmination of a public inquiry last year, following KQ’s botched bid to take up control of JKIA to boost its dwindling fortunes. On November 2019, Transport PS Esther Koimett told the National Assembly that as a follow-up to the legislatures’ decision to nationalise KQ, the government plans to buy out Air France, KLM, local banks and more than 80,000 individual shareholders. It would then delist the national carrier from the bourse. She has since moved to the Ministry of ICT in the same capacity. Koimett had earlier said the technical expert was to be hired before Christmas. The government’s target was to close the deal by end of this year. The airline’s former Chief Executive Sebastian Mikosz late last year urged the government to speed up […]
