Kenya Airport Authority demolition of airport duty-free shop...... A long-running lease dispute which has played out before the country’s courts for several years now, was apparently moved to the platform of self-administered justice by Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) personnel. Hundreds of passengers witnessed the invasion of KAA personnel as they raided Jomo Kenyatta International Airport’s (JKIA) main duty-free shop. Multiple messages to a similar effect were received and pictures are now emerging from JKIA via Twitter and other social media of duty free goods thrown out of the building, piled up, exposed to the elements of weather and a target for opportunistic thieves and looters. One regular source from JKIA in fact insisted that the duty free company had a valid court order to prevent exactly that from happening but added: “When has KAA respected court orders? Are they not the ones who in cohorts with others destroyed billions of shillings worth of residences, homes and property some time ago, claiming they were taking back airport land? Did they not ignore an injunction served on them to prevent that destruction? Are they not guilty of contempt of court, I want to know? And as if they learned no lesson from that public relations disaster, now they do it again “I truly hope that the owners sue the daylights out of them and that the board of directors, the chairman, the CEO and those directly involved are held personally liable and lose their life savings in paying personal compensation for the role they played. If Kenya does not respect the rule of law, no matter how hard the circumstances, what is left of our republic at 50? “Those visitors leaving Nairobi last night - what impression of a lawless country will they take home with them. In front of everyone, really?” Staff of the duty free shop complex were reportedly left in tears, some claiming their personal property was also mishandled and got lost, and threatening to sue KAA for the losses and damages they suffered. Suggestions were made about excessive force being used, expensive goods being deliberately “banged around,” and by the look of it almost intentionally damaged and that restraint and managerial oversight were glaringly absent to keep the situation calm. This for sure was not KAA’s finest hour, and whatever they have coming their way as a result of the action taken last night from subsequent court action and through court orders, they richly deserve.
Posted on: Tue, 13 Aug 2013 13:53:59 +0000
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