Members of Parliament have raised concerns over land encroachment at Moi International Airport in Mombasa, directing the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) to provide details of all parcels allegedly taken over by individuals and companies.
The National Assembly Departmental Committee on Transport and Infrastructure, led by Chairperson George Kariuki, directed Principal Secretary in the State Department for Aviation and Aerospace Teresia Mbaika and KAA Managing Director Moses Wekesa to submit a report detailing the extent of the encroachment.
The report is also expected to include the names of individuals and companies occupying or claiming ownership of the airport’s land.
The directive followed a presentation by Wekesa, who identified land encroachment as one of the major challenges affecting plans to upgrade and expand the airport.
Kariuki questioned why KAA had continued to raise concerns over encroached land without taking decisive action or implementing recommendations contained in previous reports.
“This Committee needs to know how much airport land has been encroached and who is doing it. When you tell us that you want to increase the airport’s capacity from 2.5 million to 4.5 million passengers yet you have not secured the land, how will this happen?” Kariuki asked.
KAA told the committee that it had faced challenges in securing the disputed land and was pursuing some of the matters through the courts.
“Hon. Members, we are happy to have this discussion with you. We have had many others before, but we face challenges in implementing recommendations from the reports we have put together. We are pursuing this encroachment based on previous reports,” Wekesa said.
He said KAA had previously deployed General Service Unit officers to guard some of the land outside the airport but they were later instructed to leave.
“I want to cite a case here. We have been using GSU officers to guard the land outside the airport, but they received instructions to leave, and all these cases are in court,” he said.
TJ Kajwang’, who served in another parliamentary committee in the previous Parliament that investigated the same issue, questioned why the matter appeared to be starting afresh whenever there was a change in KAA leadership or senior government officials.
Kajwang’ urged the State Department and KAA to provide the committee with all existing records and information to help resolve the land dispute and support the airport’s expansion.
“I have been here with another Committee to thoroughly investigate this issue of land grabbing; the Attorney General was involved to handle the case. I am talking from experience. Why are we starting afresh every time a new CEO or PS comes in? That means you are not aware of the records we leave here. We want to see continuity in KAA, not everyone coming with their own style,” he said.
The committee is expected to use the information submitted by KAA and the State Department to establish the extent of the alleged encroachment and determine the action required to secure the airport’s land.
KAA Engages Workers’ Union Over Strikes
Away from the land dispute, KAA and the State Department informed the committee that they were engaging the Kenya Civil Aviation Workers’ Union to prevent a recurrence of strikes that have affected airport operations.
Mbaika acknowledged that concerns raised by airport workers had contributed to industrial action and said discussions were underway to address outstanding issues.
“We take responsibility for the strikes we have seen in our airports in the recent past. I think we have not been acting on the concerns raised, like the July one. Hon. Members, we have made good progress, and we hope not to see such strikes again,” Mbaika said.
She said the parties were making progress on issues surrounding collective bargaining agreements, with disagreements partly arising from the backdating of matters that had not been implemented.
“We are agreeing on some issues around CBAs; the problem has been backdating what was not implemented,” she said.
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