Night of the long knives as pilots want chief executive out

It was a night of the long knives on Thursday as Kenya Airways pilots demanded to see blood in the form of the sacking of the chief executive, Mr Mbuvi Ngunze, and his entire management team before they could resume flying planes.

The pilots ignored a directive from the High Court not to go on strike and a decision by their labour union, Kenya Airline Pilots Association.

This led to the cancellation of over 25 flights to destinations such as Kilimanjaro, Lusaka, Zanzibar, Johannesburg, Yaoundé, Jeddah, Entebbe, Addis Ababa and Kinshasa and, with it, the loss of between Sh200 million and Sh300 million in revenue. Over 10,000 customers were left stranded and spent the night at hotels.

This was confirmed by the airline’s chairman Jeremy Awori.

Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia, who had on Wednesday brokered a no-strike deal, rushed to meet over 400 pilots at their Rubani House headquarters in Embakasi, hoping to come up with a fresh pact.

After more than 10 hours of talks, which also involved Mr Awori, the strike was called off, pending negotiations.

PILOTS' COMPLAINTS

The pilots’ claims range from complaints about costly agreements management made with travel agents, the sale of aircraft at alleged throw-away prices, and unprocedural leasing out of others.

For these, and other alleged managerial misdeeds, the association of pilots wanted Mr Macharia to kick out the airline’s entire management team.

The minister was, however, not willing to grant them their wish, at least not immediately, and definitely not without professionally corroborating the allegations.

“I told the pilots that we cannot act on hearsay. We need proof that a particular manager is or was culpable, including those who have since left the company,” Mr Macharia told the Sunday Nation.

“Deloitte is undertaking a forensic audit of Kenya Airways to pinpoint which transactions took place when, their effect, and who authorised them. The report will be out in three weeks after which we shall go full blast on all culprits.”

The audit firm is interrogating the conceptualisation and financing of the ambitious but ill-fated Project Mawingu expansion plan and financial decisions (and leakages) dating back six years.

The pilots, however, remained adamant that some heads must roll on Thursday.

At around 8 pm, two managers were sent on leave pending disciplinary hearings while a third, the group human resources director, exited the airline for good. The strike was finally over.

HR DIRECTOR SENT PACKING

Alban Mwendar, the airline’s group human resources director since August 2011, was asked to exit the company.

The airline’s official position is that he had resigned in early April but was requested to stay on and oversee the restructuring which will see as many as 600 employees sacked or redeployed.

The staff restructuring, which begins this month, affects about 36 pilots who are scheduled to be lent out to competitor airlines for three years and then recalled.

This pitch placed Mr Mwendar in the pilots’ crosshairs and left Mr Macharia with no alternative but to ask him to officially exit the airline for the pilots to unclench their fists.

Kenya Airways has since November 2014 progressively grounded and leased out four Boeing 777-300 planes and recently sold off two Boeing 777-200 aircraft, leaving their pilots jobless.

Their licences, pending recertification from the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority, restrict them from flying smaller planes such as the Embraer.

However, these aviators still draw salaries, hence the push by the airline’s management, through Mr Mwendar, to redeploy them.

The Sunday Nation has learned that the pilots, who have served for over 20 years, are hoping to get hefty redundancy payoffs and still secure a recall.

The management is keen to frustrate this ploy, drawing their wrath, but inevitably forcing Mr Mwendar to fall on his sword.

“There are a lot of issues that have resulted in this stalemate and that is why we asked him (Mr Mwendar) to go,” Mr Macharia said.