Editorials

Solve KAA’s financial woes

gitari

KAA managing director Alex Gitari. FILE PHOTO | NMG

The Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) has requested a cash bailout from the Treasury, saying it is unable to meet its obligations due to financial constraints.

It reportedly sank into the financial hole after the Treasury took Sh12.5 billion surplus cash from its coffers in 2019.

The KAA boss Alex Gitari says the agency is too broke to even settle supplier debt.

If its request is not quickly met, the agency runs the risk of collapsing under the weight of rising debt.

The pending bills that continue to attract interest as high as Sh12 million monthly.

This is unfortunate given that the KAA was previously vibrant and in a good financial health, making significant contribution to the exchequer by way of taxes.

That the airports authority is now in such a dire situation is a strong pointer that the Treasury’s decision was misguided. This amounts to literally killing the goose that lays the golden egg.

It is not entirely wrong for the State to take money from State corporations to shore up the national coffers. However, stripping the agencies’ reserve accounts clean certainly paralyse their operations.