- Operations at the airfield were suspended in January 2003 after a plane crash in which then Labour Cabinet Minister Mohammed Khalif died.
- There were plans in 2015 for the county to partner with private investors to revive operations at the investment.
Image: /EMOJONG OSERE
There are no plans to revive the Busia airstrip, which has been inactive for 17 years, Roads and Public Works chief executive Okwara Ekirapa has said.
“There are no plans for revival. I don't know anything about that,” Okwara told the Star on the phone. The airstrip is under the Department of Roads and Public Works.
Operations at the airfield were suspended in January 2003 after a plane crash in which then Labour Cabinet Minister Mohammed Khalif died. The accident also claimed the lives of two pilots.
Those seriously injured during the 2003 accident, were MPs Martha Karua (Gichugu), Raphael Tuju (Rarieda), Linah Kilimo (Marakwet East) and George Khaniri (Hamisi). Khaniri is Vihiga Senator while Tuju is Jubilee Secretary General. Karua is presently the Narc-Kenya party leader.
The 24-seater Gulfstream aircraft crashed while taking off. It was airlifting senior government officials who had attended a victory party at former Funyula MP Moody Awori’s rural home. The celebratory event followed the National Rainbow Coalition’s (Narc) win during the 2002 general election in which Mwai Kibaki was elected President.
In 2015, the county government said there were plans for it to enter into a Public-Private Partnership arrangement with strategic investors to source funds to be used in the airstrip’s revival.
The Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) then said it had sent a team of engineers to Busia to work with the Public Works department to assess the possibility of the airfield’s reopening.
The authority, headquartered at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, is the sole owner and overseer of all airstrips in the country.
Attempts by the Star to talk to KAA’s corporate affairs manager Grace Odhiambo to elaborate on whether the authority has short-term plans to revive operations at the airfield were unsuccessful. Odhiambo was in a meeting at the time this story was filed.
Two years ago, Busia Governor Sospeter Ojaamong said among prime land parcels grabbed in Busia town was airstrip land. The governor said the Lands department will ensure title deeds for private developers who have encroached on airfield land are cancelled.
The County’s Integrated Development Plan (CIDP) for 2018-22 says Ojaamong’s administration in his second term would spend Sh30 million in purchasing more land for the aviation investment’s expansion.
According to the CIDP, the county was to purchase five acres each year between 2018 and 2022 to facilitate the airstrip’s development as preparations for its revival continue.
An additional Sh8 million was to facilitate the carrying out of feasibility studies and to conduct design works.
In 2016, governors of the Lake Region Economic Bloc agreed to revive air transport to facilitate trade and tourism industry growth. Busia airstrip was among flight investments the plan targeted to revive.
The move was expected to link airstrips in LREB counties to the Kisumu International Airport and the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Apart from Busia airfield, others that had been planned for rehabilitation included Sega and Gombe airstrips in Siaya, Kaimosi in Vihiga and Suneka in Kisii.
Kakamega airstrip was also to benefit from the plan.
The Busia airstrip before the January 2003 plane crash was the only active airfield in current Busia county.