MICHAEL JOSEPH POURS COLD WATER ON PILOTS UNION DEMANDS THAT AIRLINE CEO BE SACKED
(Posted 05th November 2016)
Information has emerged that Kenya Airways’s Chairman of the Board, Mr. Michael Joseph, has gone on record that Group Managing Director and CEO Mr. Mbuvi Ngunze is going nowhere anytime soon.
Under Ngunze’s leadership was ‘Operation Pride‘ developed and is being progressively implemented, which rightsized many areas of Kenya Airways’ operations, including fleet and staffing.
Kenya’s rabid unions are largely perceived as militants in the service of either local political masters or else serve as a fifth column and they will no doubt be under shock that their demands of having Mr. Mbuvi Ngunze sacked have fallen on deaf ears.
Michael Joseph was quoted to have said in Nairobi yesterday: ‘He is crucial to me and I told the pilots as much. He is in the middle of renegotiating with our financiers to get better terms in order to get out of the hole we are in. He is critical in that process since he knows and understands these people‘.
Pilots, skilled technicians no doubt, are not trained economists nor has KALPA shown much competence in the past given their demands and broad opinion in Kenya is that they better fly their planes and not meddle in affairs they understand little of.
Individuals met at the recently concluded Magical Kenya Travel Expo, several of whom were affected by a wild cat strike which defied court orders and government directives, in fact have been in touch since then, uniformly saying that such would not happen in Ethiopia or Rwanda and that Kenya needs to clip the wings of her unions or else be held hostage by a group of misguided individuals who are just steps away from being described as economic saboteurs.
Meanwhile has this correspondent flown on a number of Kenya Airways flights again in recent weeks and been able to sample the inflight service in business class, the services of ground staff and at the airline’s Pride Lounge in Nairobi, all of which affirm that Kenya Airways remains the Pride of Africa and that their services, when not troubled by wildcat strikes, remain second to none in Africa.
