This archive report was first published on 26 July 2019.
Kenya Airways has renewed the contracts of four Polish expatriates whose terms were set to lapse in June. The team, led by outgoing chief executive Sebastian Mikosz, will spearhead the nationalisation of the flagging airline.
Each of the team members has been handed a six-month contract extension, during which they will set up structures that will eventually lead to KQ reverting back to the Government. This follows a recommendation by Parliament.
The team will develop a plan to birth the Kenya Aviation Holding Group, which will own KQ as well as other aviation entities such as the Kenya Airports Authority and an aviation college.
Other key tasks that the team will be charged with are the drafting legislation to set up the entities as well as propose to the Government how it should deal with the current shareholders.
Transport Principal Secretary Esther Koimett told The Standard that the team had been expanded and would include other KQ staff, who would continue with the implementation of plans after the contracts of the four expatriates lapse.
"We made the request (for contract extension) because they have been handling the transactions that had been contemplated and now have been approved by Parliament. Now that we are going into implementation, we felt that we needed continuity as well as the know-how of the team considering that it has been handling the transactions," she said.
