In the statement signed by KAA acting Managing Director, Henry Ogoye, the authority accused the airport workers of staging the strike against court orders.
The Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) released a statement hours after its workers staged a go-slow at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) before manifesting into a full-blown strike that has now spread across all major airports in the country.
In the statement signed by KAA acting Managing Director, Henry Ogoye, the authority accused the airport workers of staging the strike against court orders.
According to the authority, the workers paralysed airport operations, but as of 7 am, the authority claimed that normalcy had resumed after it engaged relevant parties.
“Early this morning, a section of unionisable airport workers at JKIA engaged in a strike contrary to the Court Order CASE NUMBER: ELRCC/E648/2024,” the statement read in part.
Kenya Airports Authority headquarters at the JKIA in Nairobi. /KAA
“As of 7:00 am, minimal operations had resumed. In the meantime, we are engaging relevant parties to normalize operations. We apologize for any inconvenience caused and appreciate your patience and understanding during this time.”
KAA went on to encourage passengers to reach out to their respective airlines to confirm their flight status. This is on the back of a wave of flight disruptions reported by other airlines since the strike commenced at midnight.
Wednesday, September 11 marked day one of the KAA workers strike. The workers had given the government and JKIA an ultimatum to make public a deal it entered with Adani Group Holdings to manage the international airport.
All employees of KAA downed tools as a result of failed talks with the government. At the top of the concerns was that the deal, involving JKIA and Indian conglomerate Adani Group, would lead to mass layoffs of employees.
Since the strike officially kicked off at midnight, no plane took off at JKIA, a situation that spread across the other airports, leading to thousands of passengers stranded.
Representatives from the conglomerate were already at the airport carrying out an assessment in the past days, though the fine print of the deal remains secretive.
The protests are intensifying with no end appearing to be in sight, workers in videos captured at the logistical hubs repeatedly chanting the slogan Adani Must Go. Kenyans online joined in digital activism with the #AdaniMustGo trending on major social media platforms by the time of publishing.
Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU-K) Secretary General Francis Atwoli arrived at JKIA to address striking workers, with some protesters at the airport being detained following the morning chaos. The COTU SG, therefore, demanded the immediate release of detained airport workers without further delay, with reports of security officers including the National Youth Service (NYS) and General Service Unit (GSU) deployed to contain the situation.
Atwoli, while accusing some Cabinet Secretaries for ghosting the workers in the form of not picking up calls, said he was headed into talks to represent the workers in a meeting with the government terming them the main stakeholders of the deal.
“I tried calling Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen when this started to educate him to meet the workers and educate them over the Adani deal. Our Ministers are arrogant and don’t take telephones and disregard worker’s calls. This is what has brought about all these.
“We are urging our members to remain firm until we get back to them on this matter. They have our support,” he addressed. However, Murkomen runs the Sports Ministry with the Transport docket now being manned by Davis Chirchir.
Long queues continued to persist as travellers lamented a lack of communication regarding their flights. They noted that nobody is receiving preferential treatment and everyone is being treated the same.
