A video of a leaking roof at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport amid heavy downpour has gotten the attention of Ugandan authorities after it was wrongly attributed to Entebbe International Airport.
Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) issued a disclaimer but fell short of disclosing that the footage was that of Kenya's JKIA.
"Please ignore the trending video of an unfortunate situation at an airport in a neighbouring country, which some WhatsApp users have wrongly attributed to Entebbe International Airport. Note that this is not Entebbe International Airport," the Authority said on its X platform Wednesday evening.
However, Kenyans did not take lightly the move by UCAA not to mention that the footage was taken at the JKIA.
"If you wanted to talk to Kenyans, talk to us directly - don't cut through the corners," Gabriel Oguda said.
"Don't cut corners Bwana, if you are addressing us Kenyans, come and face us and I promise, we will pull your nose longer," added @BrianMPeter.
The sentiments were echoed by @kamaujst who said, "You could have just said Kenya…now people think it is Rwanda."
Journalist and KTN Swahili news anchor Ali Manzu thought whoever sent out the tweet intended to make fun of Kenyans.
"Admin, you are making fun of us," he said.
@JohnNgeru appeared to agree with Manzu, saying, "Even people in Uganda are making fun of JKIA? We don't have a country here."
Others like @ZamuhAdan and @itskipronoh laid the blame on the Cabinet Secretary in charge of transport saying, 'See what Murkomen is doing to us," and, "Murkomen anatuchomea picha" respectively.
The video first surfaced online on Monday prompting Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei, who has for weeks been having a tiff with Roads and Transport CS Kipchumba Murkomen, to escalate his attack on the CS.
"CS Murkomen came to Nandi County two weeks ago and called me a fool I thought he had finished all the works in the Ministry of Roads and Infrastructure," he started.
"Look at the video below of massive leaking of JKIA Terminal roofs," he said.
"JKIA is a steeplechase arena! Waziri wacha fanya kazi! Poleni wageni. (Minister stop this shame and work. Sorry visitors)," he added.
Murkomen on Wednesday laid the blame for the leaking roofs at JKIA's Terminals B and C on the Jubilee administration.
He said the airport infrastructure was in a sorry state because the contractors hurriedly carried out temporary repairs without meeting the required standards.
Murkomen said this was because the Jubilee government under retired President Uhuru Kenyatta was keen on decommissioning the terminal and constructing a new one.
“They will have to explain the scope of work that was used in the renovations that when there is heavy rainfall, there must be a leakage," he said while inspecting the expansion of Diani Airport in Kwale County.
The CS later Wednesday stated the JKIA on arrival from Kwale County saying he had formed an 11-member committee to investigate the state of affairs in all Kenyan airports.
"The experience over the last few months has raised questions about the status of our airport infrastructure facilities," he said. as he directed the team to be chaired by Kenya Airports Authority Director Eng Walter Ogolla to complete the probe within 28 days.
"It is expected that the committee will submit an interim report within the next 14 days and the final report within 28 days," he said.
Murkomen said the team has in the interim been tasked to identify immediate remedial measures to improve facilities and passenger comfort at the JKIA, Wilson and Moi International Airport in Mombasa.