MPs want direct flights to US on Obama agenda

MPs want President Uhuru Kenyatta to put on the agenda the issue of direct flights to the US during his forthcoming meeting with President Barack Obama.

National Assembly Transport Committee member Maina Kamanda said on Monday that direct flights from Kenya to the US would help in attracting tourists. President Obama is expected in the country later this month.

He is scheduled to hold bilateral talks with President Kenyatta and attend the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES).

“We are going to write to President Kenyatta to ask him to engage the US President on the issue of direct flights,” Mr Kamanda said during the parliamentary committee’s tour of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

The committee visited the airport to inspect five buses that the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) had leased to shuttle travellers on the airport’s premises.

The bus hire contract was suspended after President Kenyatta said the monthly lease amount of Sh11 million ($120,000) was exorbitant.

The buses have since been parked at the airport on request of Relief and Mission Logistics Limited, the company awarded the eight-year transportation contract by KAA.

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KAA acting managing director Yatich Kangugo said the board of directors had terminated the lease. He refused to comment on reports that the company had filed a huge claim for the termination of the eight-year concession agreement.

Mr Kamanda said the committee will ascertain whether the buses, which were bought for Sh42 million each, were new or second-hand.

“We will also want to know why the buses, which are similar to the ones run by Kenya Airways, were bought at a difference of Sh22 million,” he said.

Kenya Airways had bought 12 similar buses for Sh20 million each.

The committee will this morning listen to submissions by the Kenya Airways management on the procurement of its buses before interrogating Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) officials on Thursday.

Last week, the committee was told by KAA board chairman David Kimaiyo that KRA did not collect any duty during importation of the five buses after Relief and Mission Logistics Limited allegedly wrote to the taxman and secured a duty waiver. The buses were imported from Germany.

“We will seek to know why KRA exempted the buses from paying duty. This is a private company which ought to have paid duty for the importation of the buses,” said Mr Kamanda.

He said the committee will seek to uncover whether public funds was lost in the transaction.