Not so long ago, in July 2015, Kenya Airways, one of the world biggest airlines recorded Sh25.7 billion loss, the biggest by a Kenyan company.
The airline's management attributed the loss to Ebola disease that rocked West Africa, which forced KQ to cancel all flights scheduled for West African countries and a decline in the number of tourists that visited the country, owing to travel advisories by European nations, among other reasons behind the massive loss.
Fingers of accusations were also pointed at former Chief Executive Officer Titus Naikuni, who has since been grilled by a Senate committee on the loss. He however refuted claims of poor management during his tenure, adding that he was not aware of any corruption at KQ.
Truth be told, corruption played a major role in the huge loss incurred by KQ. There is no need to pump more money into the company to resuscitate it if corruption cartels are still baying to grab more money from the airliner.
These cartels must be eliminated to avoid future losses at KQ.
The potential collapse of Kenya Airways should be an eye opener to fight graft in the transport sector to avoid losses.
Not unless the government and stakeholders in the transport sector stand firm in the fight against corruption, more money will be lost.