Transport CS Kipchumba Murkomen has now disclosed the problem that ails the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
Speaking on Thursday, the CS who was addressing the frequent blackouts that have recently been experienced at the airport said it faces systemic challenges.
He said this was as a result of neglect.
According to Murkomen, there is also a human resource challenge at JKIA, in that the engineering department for instance has very thin support in terms of staff, yet it is directly in charge of the said generators.
"The problems we see at the airport are systemic of poor investment that we didn't put in place for many years. Our airport has suffered immense neglect," he said on Spice FM.
"There is a problem when it comes to human resources at the airport. There is a feeling many people of a certain stature don't want to work at the airport. When we came to the office of the 11 General Managers, five were acting and most of them were at an advanced age."
The CS said he had a conversation with a former official who admitted to sabotage and people not willing to work at the airport.
He said the agencies at the airport also do not want to work together.
Murkomen further noted that only two terminals have challenges – Terminal 1A and 1 E.
"The Runway, Control Tower, Terminal B and the other Terminal were not affected," he said.
"So, the question you ask yourself is why are the other Terminals working and this one is not? It's because they have dedicated generators to these terminals."
He also mentioned that the Eldoret International Airport has had much worse blackouts that sometimes planes could not take off, but no one speaks about it.
The CS defended the move to involve the Directorate of Criminal Investigations because they think the recent blackout was deliberate.
He said this is because they are making a lot of staff changes at the airport, and this is a possibility.
Murkomen said they have also brought in experts to assess the generators because some people believe they are substandard.
"The good thing is that out of these systemic problems at the beginning of this administration, we have an opportunity to have lasting changes to make JKIA one of the best airports."
