By Jospeh Opiyo || Wednesday, 6th March, 2019
Having been active in the Business Desk of major Newspapers from the 1990s till my retirement in 2007 I can give some insights into Kenya Airways.
My take is this: Kenya Airways is a Crime Scene. It is basically a Criminal Enterprise operating on borrowed time, and controlled by shadowy figures and creditors.
Kenya Airways was doing well, and in the year 2000 it was was effectively competing with Ethiopian Airlines.
Then the idea of making quick bucks hit the guys running it.
Extremely powerful people in power decided to create offshore shadowy companies to do business with KQ.
They set up an ambitious expansionist program called 'Project Mawingu'. The same brains behind the ambitious expansionist program that killed Uchumi Supermarket, were behind Mawingu.
Instead of KQ doing direct business with suppliers of planes and fuel, they decided to lease everything, from planes, Cabin Crew, Training and Servicing.
The business was given to powerful people. Raila Odinga is among the big names named in the suspect deals. This is according to media reports in 2016.
Raila as PM, managed to get the lucrative cargo business. His other company was given the fuel supply business.
Raila is just one of the players. Key figures in Kibaki and Uhuru power structures are involved.
Who knows the real owners of Tsavo Limited and Samburu Limited?, the two firms own most of the Planes in the KQ list of 20 "owned" planes.
Can KQ open up and tell Kenyans who the faces behind Tsavo and Samburu Limited are?
Anyway, no one is in jail for the huge 25 billion loss recorded about 7 years ago. Instead the faces behind the huge loss were rewarded with plum Government jobs.
I will be giving details on how the lucrative Airline was brought down step by step.
This Criminal Enterprise should never be allowed to take control of anything else. More to follow.