Cartels a threat to efficiency at port, JKIA, says Kamau

Transport and Infrastructure Cabinet Secretary Michael Kamau wants cartels at the Port of Mombasa and the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport eliminated to allow efficiency and expansion of the two key national assets.

Speaking at a meeting with the Senate Committee on Energy and Transport at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) Tuesday, Mr Kamau said the two were under a “tight stranglehold of the cartels".

“It is very important that we reclaim our institutions,” said Mr Kamau.

The Cabinet Secretary said all government officials at the Mombasa Port and at the JKIA will all be answerable to the bosses of Kenya Airports Authority and the Kenya Ports Authority.

“We went to the Port of Mombasa. We told the managing director that we have given you this authority; this is your undated letter of sacking. Just go and put the date,” said Mr Kamau.

Detect contraband

It is that central command that has opened the window for contraband to be detected at the Port of Mombasa.

“How come before we went to the port (of Mombasa with all these measures), there was nobody that was being arrested. All of a sudden, there are people being arrested with ivory and drugs.

"The Port used to operate without any central command…the customs people used to come at their own time, the Kenya Bureau of Standards inspectors also came at their own time. Now, technically everyone is answerable to their bosses,” said Mr Kamau.

He also said there were 7,000 “redundant” employees at the Port of Mombasa.

That means that if the government gets its way, a massive layoff will be in the offing. The commercialisation of the Port of Mombasa has been a political hot potato, but the government will need to put its foot down if the port has to compete with other ports such as the one in Durban, South Africa.

“If the Tanzanians were not people that they are; Mombasa would have died a long time ago. Fortunately, with their Ujamaa thinking, they are not able to develop things very fast,” said Mr Kamau.

The Cabinet Secretary said policemen, baggage handlers and custom officials worked in cahoots with criminals to frustrate efficient service provision at JKIA.

He said, for instance, that although the airport had 500 police officers, it had failed to stop passenger luggage tampering.

Tighten noose

JKIA too will have to be placed under a central command to make services efficient and eliminate trafficking of contraband.

“We have to bring the JKIA under central command. The MD KAA will be the first one to be sacked if things don’t change,” said Mr Kamau.

Danson Mwazo (Taita Taveta) said the government ought to tighten the noose on the cartels. He also appealed to the Cabinet Secretary to deal with the indiscipline of matatu drivers on the road.

Mr Kamau said the National Environmental Management Authority was also an impediment to discipline on the roads and building of infrastructure, because, “for some reason, they just wake up and declare some weighbridges as illegal because they do not have the Environmental Impact Assessment report".

“The lack of an EIA has the capacity of stalling everything,” said Mr Kamau.

Otieno Kajwang’ (Homabay) said some of the injunctions against development projects, were responsible for stalling infrastructure provision in the city.

For instance, he cited the injunction against the building of a road on some land belonging to the Nairobi National Park.

"There are certain projects that should not be frustrated by injunctions,” said Mr Kajwang’