The cabinet secretary for roads and transport Kipchumba Murkomen has responded to Larry Madowo’s critics over the conditions at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) terminals.
Speaking in an interview with one a mainstream media outlet in the country, CS Murkomen agreed that JKIA needs serious renovations and the plan is already set to take care of it before the next general elections.
“I saw Larry taking videos at the airport. I was laughing because Larry was with us in the country for the last 50 years when that airport was like that. Suddenly because he lives in ‘majuu’ his eyes are open and realizes that there is no shade when you exit JKIA. It is not news that JKIA does not have a canopy for shielding passengers, it is a fact. I want to tell Kenyans that by the time we are going to the next elections, we will have a new terminal at least complete or almost complete that will make JKIA a more competitive airport with facilities that are enviable and make us an aviation hub," Murkomen said
This response comes days after CNN journalist Larry Madowo, shared a video of passengers being rained on at one of the terminals due to lack of shades and the walkaways were already flooded.
In the footage Larry can be heard saying we could do better as a country and it was embarrassing for an international airport to be in that state.
The CNN journalist went ahead to respond to Murkomens comment regarding him in the interview saying he didn’t suddenly start talking about the JKIA conditions, he has been for the past 10 years and nothing has been done therefore Murkomens comment about his stay abroad is inconvenient.
“This premium gas lighting, deflecting and trivializing the issue: 1. JKIA is 66 - almost 30 years older than me2. You don’t need a new pre-election terminal to build canopies for the existing ones3. I didn’t “suddenly” discover how bad it is, I’ve been complaining about JKIA for 10 years. Thread of receipts in the comments," Madowo responded
Larry Madowo isn’t the first to complain about JKIAs state as various Kenyans have also repeatedly shown their frustrations over the airports state such as water leakages when it’s raining or the one time major black out was experienced in the airport over generator delay issues.
CS Murkomen responds to Larry Madowo’s critics on JKIA conditions