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{
    "id": 549446,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/549446/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 244,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "content": "ordered nine Dream Liners from Boeing. Only three had been purchased so far. Kenya Airways decided that the six remaining Dreamliners should be leased. I do not have any problem with the idea of leasing equipment. Indeed, under proper management and financial controls, it is better to lease equipment than to buy it. This is what I had advocated when I was in the then Ministry of Medical Services. When you lease equipment in an arrangement that is not financially viable and completely trapped in corruption, you are cheating the nation. Offshore companies owned by Kenyans have lined themselves up to lease these Dreamliners to Kenya Airways. They have already been involved in the practice of leasing air craft to Kenya Airways using this off shore company arrangement so that Kenyans do not know what is happening. We want the Kenya Airways management to come out in a transparent manner and clearly publish in the newspapers what the arrangements of leasing air craft to Kenya Airways are since 1996 when Kenya Airways was privatized by us paying Kshs6 billion in our tax money and authorizing our Government to write it off to Kenya Airways. We want to know how Kenya Airways has been doing business since then. At what point did the leasing arrangement start with regard to what kind of air craft? What are the profit margins that Kenya Airways derives from leasing as opposed to buying air craft straight away? We want to know the companies that have been leasing air craft to Kenya Airways, their shareholders and what the profits they are making from our national flag carrier. Secondly, Madam Temporary Speaker, our pilots and cabin crew have been crying. Not too long ago, Kenya Airways retired ten pilots on the grounds that they were old and that they had been flying other airplanes. Since Kenya Airways was now going to Dreamliners, they needed to train young pilots to fly Dreamliners. If, indeed, these pilots had rendered services to Kenya Airways, and if they were not in a position to be trained, why not continue them flying other aircraft in destinations that do not need Dreamliners so that they are not penalized because of their age? That is unconstitutional. At the same time, Kenya Airways has an arrangement of hiring crew which is completely riddled with corruption. Whereas the cabin crew should be paid Kshs120,000 per month, they are only paid Kshs40,000 per month and they work under extremely discriminatory conditions. This House should be in a position to defend the rights of workers wherever they are and ensure that our flag carrier which says it is the “Pride of Africa,” first and foremost, becomes the pride of this nation in doing and having proper business practices and protecting this nation from losing money. Finally, Madam Temporary Speaker, I mentioned in reference to the delay and cancellation of flights in various cities in this world that Kenya Airways is now known to practice on a daily basis. One of the reasons Kenya Airways cancels flights, and it has been established by engineers, is that they have out sourced the servicing of our aircraft to other engineers other than Kenya Airways engineers. We have known that our own engineers here at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) have provided services of servicing planes from other companies like Ethiopian Airways. We have also had a long time to train enough engineers. How come that we cannot position qualified Kenya Airways engineers to service our planes in Amsterdam, London, Entebbe, Mumbai and other capitals and cities? We understand that Kenya Airways has such a poor personnel The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}