New JKIA Boss Hit With First Tough Assignment
The lobby group claimed that Kenyans were being treated to misleading information, adding that the blackout that left millions of Kenyan homes in darkness was intentional
Marvin Chege 
Lobby group Operation Linda Ugatuzi has written a demand letter to Selina Gor, the newly-appointed Managing Director of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi following the nationwide blackout that left passengers at the busy airport stranded.
The demand letter seen by Viral Tea was in response to what the lobby group termed as flimsy and contradictory information coming from Transport Cabinet Secretary (CS) Kipchumba Murkomen, his Energy counterpart Davis Chirchir, Lake Turkana Energy Generation and Kenya Power.
The lobby group claimed that Kenyans were being treated to misleading information, adding that the blackout that left millions of Kenyan homes in darkness was intentional and the reaction by CS Murkomen to relieve Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) Managing Director Alex Gitari of his duties was a cover-up on an alleged smuggling into the country.
Former Kisumu International Airport and Western Region Airports manager Selina Gor (now at JKIA) at the facility on Friday, June 26, 2020. /THE STAR
"At Operation Linda Ugatuzi we believe that Kenyans are being taken for granted by being fed on misleading information since we have insider information regarding the fact that the power blackout was well planned and well executed and the responses by the CS Transport of forcing the CEO KAA to resign was to cover up on some consignment that was being smuggled into the country as the there are several planes that continued to land even as the blackout continued and power was restored once the Mission was accomplished.
"It is foolhardy to believe that JKIA with its importance will lack a working stand-in generator while small places like Kinyozi’s, Restaurants, and bars remained alive even during the blackout. We know the quality assurance procedures of JKIA and there is no chance at all this came as a surprise," the lobby group poked in part.
The letter and press statement undersigned by its national chairman, Prof. Fredrick Onyango Ogola outlined the causes of the outage being extreme weather, underscoring that most power outages are a result of severe weather – high winds, lightning, rain or flooding of the powerlines, trees falling and animals’ interference
Others include equipment failure, vehicle accidents, planned Interruptions, vandalism and rain.
"The only explanation we find reasonable is the planned interruptions which as planned and properly executed well by the officials at the airport.
"We are so saddened by the fact the officers responsible can play with such an important establishment like JKIA. KAA receives 8.8 million Passengers, 380 Million Kg of Cargo and 259,212 aircraft movements a year, contributing to 5.1% of the Kenyan GDP," added the statement.
The Linda Ugatuzi lobby pursuant to Section 8 of the Access to Information Act (Supra) compelled to request from the KAA five documents relating to JKIA. Among them include a manifest of the inventory of all arrivals of the passenger planes at the JKIA on August 25, 2023, during the power outage.
The airport's management was also compelled to furnish the lobby with a manifest of the inventory of all arrivals of all the cargo planes at the JKIA on the same day the power outage occurred.
Also included are a manifest of the inventory of all the departures of passenger plane(s) from the JKIA on August 25 as well as manifests of the inventory of all the departures of cargo planes from the airport and a manifest of the passengers who flew into the country on the night of the outage.
"In view and consideration of the urgency of the rights and fundamental freedoms that we intend to enforce, we would be grateful if you could please provide the information and/or documents sought herein urgently and in any event within SEVEN (7) days of the date of receipt of this letter.
"Even as we wait for your putative office to act upon this request, we wish to remind you that failure to respond to a request for information required for the exercise of another right or fundamental freedom constitutes a criminal offence punishable under the laws of Kenya," addressed the letter.
The lobby group further committed that it will in any event undertake to pay the requisite fees on behalf of KAA, should there be any to be incurred.
In the changes, Gitari was replaced by Henry Mugoe, whose appointment took effect on Saturday, August 26.
Gor was moved from the Airport Manager at Kisumu International Airport to replace JKIA manager Abel Gogo in his capacity, while Gogo was moved to the Moi International Airport in Mombasa.
