More controvery over CEO appointment at Kenya Airports Authority

Aviation sources from Kenya have harshly criticized the outgoing Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) CEO George Muhoho for allegedly trying to impose a successor on the organization. While it is now increasingly getting clear that Muhoho’s own term of office, extended a year ago under highly-questionably circumstances by the minister overseeing the aviation sector and in the face of strong opposition from the board, is not going to be extended again. In fact, the chairman of the KAA left the organization in the aftermath of that mess. He himself was reported in the Kenyan media of having said that his last working day would be on April 3.

Instead of going through the board, however, to discuss an advertisement for the lucrative position, it now appears that Muhoho himself drafted the advert and placed it in the local Kenyan media, while allegations subsequently emerged that it was tailored to handpick his chosen successor from within the Kenya Airports Authority. Even the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry for Transport appears to have confirmed that “not all board members were consulted,” which may mean that those opposed to Muhoho may have been left out of the staged exercise. Subsequently, the board of the KAA is expected to deal with this breach in protocol and law, as the governing act clearly demands that the job advertisement and appointment for the CEO is vested in the board in conjunction with the minister responsible.

In a notable twist, this saga emerged only days after the new chairman of KAA was finally appointed and introduced, after a gap of nearly a year, which had permitted Mr. Muhoho to run the authority as he saw fit without the supervision of a chairman.