Tough battle looms as petition on KAA boss sacking filed in House

A petition that could open a new battlefront in the leadership of the Kenya Airports Authority has been filed in Parliament asking for investigations into the sacking of former acting Managing Director Yatich Kangugo.

On Wednesday, the office of the National Assembly Clerk received documents from Mr Eric Kipkemei Bett, who identifies himself as a businessman, asking MPs to “recommend appropriate disciplinary and administrative actions against the Kenya Airports Authority board of directors for not living to the spirit of the constitution, and blatant violation of Kenyan laws which amounts to abuse of office”.

Mr Kangugo — who had been acting MD from March 30, 2015 before the board announced the appointment of Norwegian Jonny Andersen in July this year — was initially suspended before being sacked last month.

The KAA board of directors is chaired by retired Chief of Defence Forces Julius Karangi who took over from former Inspector-General of Police David Kimaiyo whose appointment was revoked in June.

Since the sacking of Mr Kangugo, who had worked at KAA for 21 years, the giant institution has been led in the interim by Mr Nicholas Bodo from the ministry of Transport and Infrastructure where he was the acting director of Air Transport.

It is not clear why Mr Andersen has not reported three months after his appointment.

“The petitioner avers that Mr Yatich’s decision to surrender the office to Mr Nicholas Bodo was in fulfilment of a directive dated July 12, 2016 from Gen (rtd) Julius Karangi, the chairman of the board,” Mr Bett states.

Before proceeding on leave, the petitioner says that Mr Kangugo had been interviewed for the MD’s position, even though Mr Bett alleges the board interviews were “unprocedural at best and a witch-hunt at worst” as they were “solely designed to oust Mr Kangugo from employment”.

“The said process was shambolic, clandestine, ill and/or politically motivated,” the petitioner says.

The interviews by the KAA board followed a series of similar processes that had failed before the right candidate was picked.

Multiple sources have previously told the Sunday Nation that the filling of the position was delayed by intrigues involving political and ethnic considerations.

This divided the board and led to the replacement of Mr Kimaiyo as chairman before the Norwegian was finally picked.

However, the latest petition signals that the appointment of the new MD may not be the end of the matter.

The petitioner claims that after being on leave for more than a month, Mr Kangugo’s stay away from work was extended to September 16 by the acting KAA boss.

ILLEGAL AND UNFAIR

But the petition alleges that when Mr Kangugo eventually returned to work and reported to Mr Bodo “for further direction”, he was served with a letter terminating his services.

Mr Kangugo’s pleas to KAA citing his dissatisfaction with the board's decision and requesting for some time to consult further were apparently ignored.

“That a clear reading of the chairman’s (Gen Karangi) letter terminating Mr Kangugo’s services with the Kenya Airports Authority is ambiguous and lacks specificity as to the cause of termination. The rules of natural justice demand that every person facing administrative action must be given the right to be heard,” reads the petition in part, adding that the board’s action was against the Constitution.

The petitioner claims there were no justifiable grounds to terminate Mr Kangugo’s services at KAA yet he still had nine more years before clocking the mandatory retirement age of 60.

“It is evident that the dismissal was primarily premised on malice as it appears that the chairman had already prepared the dismissal letter by the date Mr Kangugo was reporting to Mr Bodo, acting managing director,” Mr Bett says.

In any case, the petitioner claims, at the time of the termination, Mr Kangungo had an outstanding house loan amounting to Sh8,988,000 that had been advanced to him by the Housing Finance and later transferred to KAA mortgage scheme payable within 108 months, equivalent to nine years he still had to attain the mandatory retirement age.

The petitioner also claims that the appointment of Mr Andersen goes against the spirit and the letter of Kenya Airports Act, “which provides inter alia that a managing director must be a Kenyan citizen”.

The petitioner further claims that KAA staff who were working under Mr Kangungo’s command “are now being victimised, overlooked on meritocracy, some have been transferred, others have been frustrated and opted to resign hence lowering the morale of the entire staff”.

The petition, which is likely to be handled by the Transport Committee chaired by Starehe MP Maina Kamanda, also requests the National Assembly to make a “declaration that the termination of Mr Yatich (Mr Kangungo) from employment was illegal and unfair” and make any other order to “make the ends of justice meet and protect the rule of law”.