Stay Connected
Atlanta Black Star/Africa
AfricaNewsWorld

Kenya Airport Strike Enters 2nd Day as Leaders are Detained

Posted byBy Associated Press | Published on: CommentsComments (0)

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Hundreds of air passengers were stranded Wednesday in Kenya because of a strike at Nairobi’s international airport by the Kenya Aviation Workers Union.

Police violently dispersed striking workers who attempted to protest at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

Stranded passengers wait for their delayed flights out of JKIA airport in Nairobi, Kenya, Wednesday, March 6, 2019. (AP Photo/Khalil Senosi)

The labor court suspended the strike until a petition by a local airline opposing the strike is heard Thursday.

James Kariuki, the transport minister, said the strike was illegal because the government got court orders Tuesday barring the union from proceeding with it.

Kenya’s military took over screening and security services at the airport following the strike.

The union said in a statement that the strike was over the proposed takeover of the Kenya Airport Authority, that runs airports, by the country’s loss-making airline, Kenya Airways. It demanded the removal of the top management of Kenya Airways and the Kenya Airport Authority.

Kenya Airports Authority said flight operations at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport are steadily normalizing.

“All scheduled arrivals have been processed and the backlog of departures arising from this morning’s disruptions has been substantively cleared,” said a statement from the authority.

Kenya Airways Managing Director Sebastian Mikosz said 24 flights had been delayed and two flights had been diverted elsewhere because of the strike.

“The so called morning wave (of flights) was disrupted,” he said. He said international flights will be delayed but would take off. He said the logistical challenge had been to check in passengers and screen them properly.

“The process is slow but improving every minute,” he said.

Wyne Winters an American national stranded at the airport said it was ” a little bit frustrating”.

” I wish the airport officials would come out and give us more information about how long we are going to wait or where we should wait. Because right now it is everybody pushing past everybody else,”

Kenya’s parliamentary Public Investment Committee is investigating the deal which the government claims is necessary to reduce the loss of market share to competitors such as Ethiopian Airlines.

Still independent.

We hope this story was worth your time. For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed Black-owned and independently run. We didn't get here by waiting on ad budgets that were never built to prioritize us. Our readers did that.

Corporate support for Black media has always been thin. Outlets like ours get roughly 1% of the $170 billion spent on U.S. advertising each year, and that margin is shrinking further as advertisers walk back the DEI-linked commitments they made in 2020. That's the backdrop. It's not why we're asking.

The wider picture isn't any steadier. Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under, it's rarely the ones built to center a Black perspective from the ground up that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Give once Give monthly Support another way

Related Stories

Back to top