Auditor General Nancy Gathungu has unearthed how the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) spent Sh821 million on five stalled projects at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) whose completion still hangs in the balance.
In her report for the year ended June 2021, she says the expenditures relate to spending on stalled projects at Greenfield Terminal and the second runway at JKIA in Nairobi.
This includes Sh670 million for the Greenfield Terminal and Sh149 million for the second runway, whose tender was cancelled in 2016.
According to Ms Gathungu, the completion of the projects is doubtful and the likelihood of the costs being impaired is high.
Records show that they disbursed the amount between 2013 and 2016 without giving details of the spending.
The two projects also attracted penalties from contractors, some of whom feel KAA edged out after winning the jobs fairly.
The Chinese firm, ACEG-CATIC JV, for instance, slapped the authority with a Sh17.6 billion bill for a project that never took off.
The tender was cancelled in March 2016.
This was after they had paid Sh4.2 billion to the contractor in advance and spent Sh75 million on a groundbreaking ceremony in 2014.
Chinese firms Anhui Civil Engineering Group (ACEG) and China Aero Technology Engineering International Corporation (Catic) were selected to build the Sh56 billion Greenfield terminal, which was expected to handle 20 million passengers a year.
The contractor may get back his job as President William Ruto’s administration plans to revive the Sh56 billion airport tender, reversing another major infrastructure decision by former President Uhuru Kenyatta.
It is, however, doubtful that this will happen under the stewardship of troubled (KAA) Managing Director Alex Gitari, who is a man under siege.
Recently, reports emerged that Mr Gitari is a key target of a renewed bid by powerful State House forces to push out individuals who played a role in supporting Azimio leader Raila Odinga’s failed presidential bid by mobilizing to offer monetary aid to his campaigns that raked in billions of taxpayers’ money.
According to sources, Gitari and the General Manager of the HR department Anthony Njagi practised gross misconduct by pumping millions of shillings into Azimio La Umoja at the expense of staff welfare.
Insiders further revealed that whenever the two remitted money to Raila’s campaign kitty, they benefited from heavy kickbacks.
It is also alleged 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 circumstances under which Gitari and Njagi manoeuvred their way into the office.
Workers at KAA have also been lamenting impunity at the hands of Gitari and Njagi which has left them heavily demoralized.
Additionally, the duo is accused of negotiating collective bargaining agreements with the workers’ union only to dishonour such deals.
A case in point is when they allegedly negotiated with the workers’ union for a 13 percent pay rise in salaries, but as workers were waiting to harvest at the end of the month in 2016, KAA broke their end of the promise and defaulted.
It is imperative to note that ever since the KAA board of directors confirmed Gitari as the MD effective July 8, 2021, for three years, the institution has been linked to several scandalous deals under his leadership.
This included a plot to fast-track the deal to hand over Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to Kenya Airways.
Kenya Airways had submitted a proposal to KAA to run the airport for 30 years while paying concession fees to the operator.
Gitari’s name was also featured in the mystery that surrounded Covid-19 gear 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 about how the consignment was stolen since he was part of the government dignitaries who received the donation at the airport.
It is starting to look highly unlikely for him to survive this raging storm.