Troubled Kenya Airport Authority managing director Alex Gitari is under siege following revelations that some powerful State House forces have renewed a push to punish him over his alleged role in Raila Odinga’s failed presidential bid.
Gitari
Weekly Citizen has learnt that the name of Gitari features prominently in the list of individuals mobilised by the previous regime to offer monetary assistance towards the thwarted building bridges initiative and subsequently, Raila’s presidential campaigns that raked in billions of taxpayers’ money.
According to sources, their other critical assignment was to facilitate corruption in favour of those who were seen to be in good books with then president Uhuru Kenyatta, as well as putting roadblocks in William Ruto’s path ahead of the August 2022 general election.
It is against this background that Ruto, during his campaigns, complained of state capture and promised to deal with those in the bracket once elected president.
The fresh troubles against Gitari come at a time some of KAA workers have written to your favourite newspaper with a view of exposing what they term as the MD’s gross misconduct activities, and high level of graft at KAA.
The concerned staff now want the government to investigate Gitari and general manager HR Anthony Njagi over allegations of pumping millions of shillings towards Raila’s campaign at the
expense of staff welfare.
It is also emerging that Gitari and Njagi landed their respective lucrative positions through the influence of former powerful Interior PS Karanja Kibicho and the outgoing Transport PS Paul Maringa.
At one particular time, former Transport CS James Macharia complained regarding the circumstances under which Gitari and Njagi maneuvered their way into office.
Now workers at KAA have lamented over impunity at the hands of the two top officers said to have demoralised staff after they conspired to cancel annual increments.
Additionally, the duo has been accused of negotiating the collective bargain agreement with the workers union only to dishonour such deals.
A case in point is when they allegedly negotiated with the workers union for 13pc payrise in salaries but as workers werewaiting to harvest at the end of month in 2016 KAA defaulted.
Insiders told Weekly Citizen that whenever the two remitted money to Raila’s campaign kitty, they benefited from heavy kickbacks.
Gitari, Njagi and those they managed to galvanise on their side were sure that the political side they were funding was poised to win the presidency through but now they are said to be scared stiff of the obvious consequences.
KAA board of directors confirmed Gitari as the MD effective July 8 2021 for three years.
It is imperative to note that KAA has been linked to a number of scandalous deals under the leadership of Gitari, including a plot to fasttrack the deal to hand over Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to Kenya Airways.
Kenya Airways had submitted a proposal to KAA to run the airport over a 30-year period while paying
concession fees to the operator.
In another scandal, KAA was preparing to pay Chinese firm billions of shillings for no work done on a second terminal at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
It took the intervention of the public investments committee of parliament and it is before this committee that Gitari denied that there was any intention to pay Anhui Construction Engineering Group Ltd and China National Aero Technology Engineering Company The project was cancelled in March 2016 after a launch by Uhuru that was to cost Sh56 billion.
It was to expand JKIA’s capacity to 20 million passengers but it turned controversial after cartels dominated the whole process.
The Chinese firm was demanding for Sh17.6 billion as compensation for termination of the contract and had been
paid Sh4.2 billion whose recovery MPs said is in doubt.
Gitari’s name also featured in the mystery that surrounded Covid-19 gears that China billionaire Jack Ma donated
to Kenya at a time Covid-19 was ravaging the country.
The Kenya Civil Society group, while protesting the theft, noted that Gitari in his capacity as KAA MD should have come clean how the consignment was stolen since he was part of the government dignitaries who received the donation at the Airport.
