Kenya Airways has rubbished claims that a pilot flew its planes for eight years without having the requisite licence.
The National Carrier was responding to social media claims and a news story circulating on online blogs alleging that the said pilot operated the plane for nearly a decade.
"The General Public is advised to treat this as Fake News as no such pilot has ever flown for Kenya Airways," Kenya Airways said on social media platform X
Kenya Airways said all its pilots as well as the crew go through very rigorous training, background, and security checks to ensure that they are qualified to operate.
Further, the national carrier said due diligence is conducted while vetting applicants including verification of documents from the institution where an applicant attended training
"KQ operates in a highly regulated environment with regular audits from several regulators across its network," KQ said.
Kenya Airways said all pilot licenses are issued and renewed annually by the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA), upon establishing that the holder has met the required knowledge and experiences.
The clarification came hot on the heels of the ongoing debate regarding Brian Mwenda, a man who has been accused of theft of identity while allegedly practising as a lawyer.
A section of Kenyans took to social media to defend him saying this has happened in other professional spaces as well.
It is during the debate on social media that one user on platform X by the name of Fels1 claimed that even KQ once had a man impersonating a pilot for years.
"In 2021, a man was caught after flying KQ planes for 8 years without a license and with a fake KCSE cert. Mugo wa Wairímú treated patients without stepping into med school. Today, a guy has been caught after winning 26 cases without ever stepping into law school. Overhaul our system!," Fels1 said.
With the debate on quacks simmeringç the Director of Public Prosecutions Renson Ingonga has directed the Inspector General of Police Japhet Koome to conduct instigations into the allegations of impersonation by Brian Mwenda.
The DPP on Saturday said there has been an increase in the number of cases of unqualified persons acting as, or pretending to be Advocates of the High Court of Kenya.
"In response to the increased cases of this nature, I have directed the Inspector General of the National Police Service (NPS) to undertake expedited comprehensive investigations in respect of the suspected case of identity theft of the said Brian Mwenda Ntwiga, among others, with the view to possible prosecution, upon criminal culpability being established," the DPP said.
Ingonga said upon the receipt of the inquiry file, he shall undertake an independent review of the evidence, guided by the provisions of the Constitution, the relevant statutory provisions and the ODPP Decision to Charge Guidelines, 2019 and give appropriate directions.