Plans to raise Moi International Airport’s passenger handling capacity are facing a major hurdle over disputed land, prompting MPs to demand a full account of property that has been encroached on and those occupying it.
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has directed Principal Secretary in the State Department for Aviation and Aerospace Teresia Mbaika and Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) Managing Director Moses Wekesa to provide a detailed report on the affected land at the Mombasa airport.
The report is expected to show the extent of the encroachment as well as the names of individuals and companies linked to the occupation of the airport property.
The demand followed a presentation by Wekesa, who told the Committee that the loss of airport land was among the problems standing in the way of planned improvements and expansion of the facility.
Committeee chairperson George Kariuki questioned how KAA intended to increase the airport’s passenger capacity from 2.5 million to 4.5 million while some of the land needed for the expansion remained unsecured.
“This Committee needs to know how much airport land has been encroached and who is doing it. When you tell us that you want to increase the airport’s capacity from 2.5 million to 4.5 million passengers yet you have not secured the land, how will this happen?” Kariuki asked.
KAA said it had been working to address the problem but had encountered difficulties, including legal battles over the affected property.
Wekesa said the authority had relied on earlier reports on the encroachment but faced challenges in putting some of their recommendations into action.
“Hon. Members, we are happy to have this discussion with you. We have had many others before, but we face challenges in implementing recommendations from the reports we have put together. We are pursuing this encroachment based on previous reports,” Wekesa said.
He said the authority had also deployed General Service Unit officers to protect some of the land outside the airport but the officers were later directed to withdraw.
“I want to cite a case here. We have been using GSU officers to guard the land outside the airport, but they received instructions to leave, and all these cases are in court,” he added.
The issue of repeated investigations also emerged during the meeting, with TJ Kajwang’ questioning why the airport’s land problems continued to be revisited whenever there was a change in leadership.
Kajwang’, who served on a different House committee that examined the same matter in the previous Parliament, urged Mbaika to avail the records and information already gathered to ensure the issue is handled without starting the process again.
He recalled that the earlier inquiry had been extensive and that the Attorney General had been brought in to deal with the legal aspects of the land dispute.
“I have been here with another Committee to thoroughly investigate this issue of land grabbing; the Attorney General was involved to handle the case. I am talking from experience. Why are we starting afresh every time a new CEO or PS comes in? That means you are not aware of the records we leave here. We want to see continuity in KAA, not everyone coming with their own style,” he said.
The Committee was also briefed on measures being taken to avert further industrial action at airports following strikes witnessed recently.
KAA and the State Department said they were holding discussions with the Kenya Civil Aviation Workers’ Union in an effort to address workers’ concerns and prevent another disruption.
Mbaika acknowledged that the authorities had not acted on some of the issues raised by workers, including concerns that preceded the July strike.
She said progress had been made in talks on collective bargaining agreements (CBAs), with the parties also dealing with disagreements over the backdating of matters that had not been implemented.
“We take responsibility for the strikes we have seen in our airports in the recent past. I think we have not been acting on the concerns raised, like the July one. Hon. Members, we have made good progress, and we hope not to see such strikes again. We are agreeing on some issues around CBAs; the problem has been backdating what was not implemented,” PS Mbaika concluded.