Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has blamed the situation at the ailing Kenya Airways (KQ) on state capture.
Speaking in Botswana on Saturday, the DP said a lot is happening behind the scenes to ensure KQ gets on track.
He said the previous regime made the airline sign unattainable contracts that have made it unable to meet its operating costs.
“KQ is hardly able to meet its operating expenses and there are serious discussions on possible reforms to get KQ back on track. I must tell you the problem of KQ is what we have said, KQ is on its deathbed because of what you call state capture,” he said.
He noted that some of the contracts KQ was ‘forced’ to sign such as leasing of aircrafts were at costs that are not possible to meet with the income adding that the contracts were also done in a way that getting out of them will be quite problematic due to the heavy penalties.
“I think the state capture fellows were very clever, they did it in such a way that even if there is a change of government to get out of those contracts the penalties are extremely heavy,” Gachagua said.
He added: “But I can assure you that the government is well seized on the matter and the need for KQ to get back on track as the pride of Africa and as the national pride."
Kenya Airways sunk deeper into losses for the year ended December 31, 2022, on high global fuel prices and a tight foreign exchange market.
The airline's financial statement for the period under review shows its loss more than doubled to Sh38.2 billion compared to Sh15.8 billion reported the previous financial year.
