The United Nations has given thumps up to Kenya’s safety standards at the major airports after the country scored 91.77 per cent.
Transport CS James Macharia said on Friday that the achievement is well deserved.
“I take this opportunity to congratulate the board and management of the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority, Kenya Airports Authority, Security Agencies and other stakeholders for this commendable achievement,” Macharia said in a statement.
The CS said the achievement now ranks Kenya second in Africa as the country has met the target set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) of achieving a score of 90 per cent by 2030.
ICAO is a specialized agency of the UN with 193 member states.
It is charged with regulating international civil aviation.
Macharia said Kenya is a contracting state to the Convention on International Civil Aviation and is obligated to comply with the standards and recommended practices as contained in the 19 ICAO annexes.
ICAO audits the aviation safety and aviation security oversight capacities of its 193 Member States.
The Primary Objective of Aviation Security is to assure the safety of passengers, crew, ground personnel and the general public in all matters related to safeguarding against acts of unlawful interference with civil aviation.
Macharia said ICAO has conducted three audits.
“In 2008, the state scored 68% Level effective Implementation of the Standards and Recommendation Practices whilst in 2015 we scored 88%,” Macharia said.
The CS said from May 16-27, 2022, the country was audited by ICAO and it attained a Sustainability Indicator score of 91.77 per cent on the average effective implementation of the eight critical elements of the aviation security oversight system.
Macharia said in 2015, there were 32 findings from 300 protocol questions with observations made at JKIA alone.
Comparatively, in May 2022 audit, the scope increased to 493 protocol questions and included visits to both JIKA and Moi International Airport in Mombasa.
“The number of findings has dropped to only 15 findings in 2022,” Macharia said.
Macharia said the current global score on the average effective implementation of critical elements stands at 71.8 per cent with an African average of 61.90 per cent and the Eastern and Southern African region standing at 65.61 per cent.