Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 613986,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/613986/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 59,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "entered into between Kenya Airways management and its staff to those of outsourcing with the various companies that offer services to Kenya Airways. We tried to interrogate the probity and financial values of these contracts. I must first and foremost point out that for us, while we said the Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) are common practice in terms of business or finance streams, we were not able to verify the various memberships of these SPVs. We were also not sufficiently able to interrogate whether these SPVs were value for money. We were informed that we were able to attract a financing of 0.6 per cent interest that was far one of the best financing the airline had received. However, when we heard from the Kenya Airline Pilots Association (KAPA), they were of the view that in the first place it was not good value for money in terms of the many aircraft that we had acquired particularly the Embrears. In addition to that, it could have been competitive financing but on already inflated prices of aircraft. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, in particular I want to flag out the issue of the Embrears. These aircraft were supposed to connect our African routes. Unfortunately, they were not the type of aircraft desirable for Kenya Airways to dominate the African market. As a result of that, they were unable to deliver luggage and goods on time with respect to passengers. Eventually, we started losing most of the clientele to other emerging airlines including Emirates and Turkish Airlines. Currently, there is some kind of dominance by Ethiopian Airlines. That is why we brought up the issue of public finance, having to demonstrate that it is the best value for money for the Kenyan taxpayers. Therefore, we emphasized on the role of the Auditor-General with respect to ensuring that he is able to interrogate any business practices or transactions that are entered into by any public entity which receives public money. Therefore, as we try to revamp this airline, we will look at pricing vis-à-vis the low of cost of finance or credit that Kenya Airways received. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we, as the Committee were pained by the volumes of labour disputes that are at Kenya Airways. In my assessment of the many of the companies that we have dealt with as the Senate or as individuals, we have never had an organisation with a more adversarial human resource approach than Kenya Airways. We had a number of matters that were still in court. Some of these matters have stayed in court for quite a long time. It is our view that we must look for alternative dispute resolution mechanisms so that we are able to end some of these protracted disputes, but also be able to engineer a level of confidence within the airline. Once we work on the issue of the staff formation of airline, we will inject the necessary morale for a revamp. We did not find it common practice that the airline is in one court matter after another with its own staff. Since we cannot direct the courts, we adopted an approach. We hope the courts will be expeditious in dispensing off these matters. We are proposing a progressive step of the airline having some kind of alternative dispute resolution with its staff formation. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we also interrogated the kinds of legal implications or standards that are set in terms of recruitment. I remember we interrogated whether the former CEO, Dr. Titus Naikuni was the right candidate. Since the law that placed a 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."
}