Don’t sell our airline on the hoof
History is a little like headlines; big headlines are almost never written on things that didn’t happen, irrespective of how close they got to happening.
Similarly, history does not reserve its most mellifluous encomiums for the things leaders didn’t do or stopped from happening—unless it was to avert a catastrophe.
President Mwai Kibaki collects a lot of accolades for building Thika Superhighway, but who knows about the things he could have—but did not—build? History celebrates victories won against all odds, by grit and dogged determination.
I think the attempt to sell Kenya Airways—especially to Delta Airlines, a terrible airline in my own personal experience—is a horrible idea. The reason for wanting to do so is a bean-counting, financial one: The airline is making losses, draining the Treasury in times of high debt and near-collapse. But this is a short-term, monetary consideration; nothing to do with the airline’s value to the nation.
For countries, there are more important long-term, strategic aims requiring sacrifice and commitment. Kenya is not a PLC; it doesn’t have to post a profit every quarter. In any case, if you want to make money, don’t go into airlines: After Covid, the industry required $173 billion in bailouts to keep breathing.
US airlines are recipients of routine state support—following the 2001 terror attacks and during Covid, for instance. The choice of Delta also bears questioning: The company has poor service, at least in my experience, and does not have a clean sheet. Its loss in 2020 was Sh1.5 trillion. If we expect our national carrier to always make money, never losses, then we might as well invest in a herd of unicorns.
Let me outline my reasons for that isolated position that I occupy. First of all, KQ made a profit of Sh1.2 billion in 2012, and Sh4 billion in 2009, maybe a sign of something not quite right going on there, but still good evidence that the airline was profitable and as sound a business as an airline can be.
We, taxpayers, have not been given a proper explanation why KQ became a basket case, what measures were taken to turn it around and why they did not work. There has also not been accountability.
There is a serious risk that merely selling the airline in a transaction that has not been the subject of public discussion and debate, reasoned policy explanation in a Cabinet paper or parliamentary discussion will make KQ just another Kenyan parastatal—a Mumias Sugar, a scandalously looted public enterprise hocked in a transaction that is itself most likely a scam.
Transparent process
If KQ is to be sold, that precipitate determination ought to be the culmination of a transparent process involving a thorough audit, followed by a public inquiry out of which there should be prosecutions, asset seizures and concrete way-forward policy proposals. The airline was built with taxes; how can it be sold on the hoof?
Secondly, some national assets are not mere P&L constructs—we did not go into them just to make money; they have great strategic value way beyond immediate financial returns. Countries spend untold billions of dollars every year to indirectly market themselves, communicate certain values and project an image.
They build monuments to intimidate rivals and show off national prowess. At times, the audience is internal; clever nations use national institutions and symbols to build a national identity, pride and confidence.
Nearly every African country has a failed national airline. It is not a big achievement to join them but it will be a huge feat to turn around what was 10 years ago our national pride: “The Pride of Africa”.
Finally, a popular refrain of mine: What is the value of Kenyan citizenship to an ordinary, struggling person? The person is taxed almost to the point of penury and most of that money is stolen by people in government. The services offered are usually not satisfactory; you have to buy them all over again from the private sector. If you run into trouble outside the country—such as being sold like a slave on some website—chances are, nobody will come for you. So, what’s the point?
The point is things like KQ, which you can uniquely identify with and even take pride in. Institutions like KQ are like athletics but many times over. When I travel to difficult places like Eastern Europe, I try as much as possible to ensure that the last bit of the journey is on Kenya Airways. The familiarity, the feel of home, far outweighs the expensive ticket, the sometimes crappy service and the rickety aircraft.
It is the airline that parents put their children in when they are sending them off to boarding school or college abroad. It is the airline most Kenyans take their first flight in, most probably to Mombasa or Diani for a shoestring holiday of booze and wilding.
There was a time we used to fly gleaming KQ Dreamliners to Guangzhou to buy funny Chinese hardware. A hustler government should be fighting for that dream, not giving up. Besides, given that this is a pious lot, savings from the Sh2 billion-a-day corruption of the previous government should be enough to save KQ.
And that will be worth a headline, I hope. BY DAILY NATION
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