Kenya Airport Authority blames power outages on vandalism

(eTN) – The Kenya Airport Authority (KAA) only managed to pour more fuel onto the fire of discontent over their dismal performance of late, when their Managing Director yesterday blamed vandals for th

(eTN) – The Kenya Airport Authority (KAA) only managed to pour more fuel onto the fire of discontent over their dismal performance of late, when their Managing Director yesterday blamed vandals for the power outages.

“The man is not only incompetent, and his staff responsible are incompetent, too, now they are also lying to us. How can they blame vandalism of cables in a secured area? Has anyone heard of intrusion into the airport perimeter, cutting of fences, or climbing them? Had police got any evidence that there was in fact vandalism or that the power substation was broken into? Has KAA filed a case with police? That cable is underground so who can access it from above? And if anyone intruded into the secure area, what does that mean for KAAโ€™s security measures in place? This is pure hogwash, and they know it. They are trying to absolve themselves from blame and by lying make it worse. They must resign or be fired for negligence and incompetence. And no, you cannot use my name, because these people are very vindictive and can cause our airline a lot of problems,” said a regular source to this correspondent yesterday evening when discussing KAAโ€™s latest attempt to shift blame from themselves to others who remain unnamed.

Airlines are demanding huge compensation from KAA for flight diversions and the resulting costs of passengers missing flights and having to be accommodated, the extra fuel to reach diversion airports, and related costs caused by a string of recent power outages at East Africaโ€™s most important international aviation gateway. Meanwhile, a crippling electricity deficit of up to 200 MW is causing power rationing across Kenya, following suit to Tanzaniaโ€™s perennial power shortages and of late similar problems in Uganda, leaving businesses, in particular the hotel industry and manufacturing industry, reeling from the added cost of doing business by using in-house generators, which at present prices of diesel and petrol are eating deep into their bottom line.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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