Kenya Airports Authority appoints new MD

Kenya Airports Authority's board has appointed Lucy Mbugua as acting managing director to replace Stephen Gichuki who has proceeded on terminal leave.

Mr Gichuki's contract was set to end on October 23

“The Board has decided to follow due process in the recruitment of a new managing director and an advertisement calling for qualified and interested persons to apply for the position will be placed in the local media over the next few days,” KAA board chairman Mutuma Mugambi said.

Ms Mbugua has been the authority’s General Manager for Marketing and Business Development for the last eight years.

The changes come just about a week after a fire gutted the Arrivals section of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Kenya's main airport, destroying property and costing the economy millions of shillings in losses.

It also comes less than two weeks after the authority chased two companies associated with businessman Kamlesh Pattni out of the airport’s duty free shops.

Mr Gichuki’s tenure has since 2010 been controversial after he backed a Chinese company for the award of the Sh55 billion greenfield terminal next to JKIA against the wishes of the board.