Kenya Airways is facing a financial crisis with a huge debts burden affecting its operations.
Parliament has now asked the airline to solve its debt burden internally. The MPs have asked the investors to share the debt burden and not the taxpayers as proposed earlier.
The lawmakers believe that it doesn’t add up for taxpayers to settle the debts when the shareholders are benefitting most from the operations of the airline after the adoption of the Transport committee report.
The airline has been advised to consider Privately Initiated Investment Proposal (PIIP) to restore its lost glory.
A section of Members of Parliament has been supporting the government takeover of the airline. However, the MPs believe that the general public cannot be asked to take care of the debts of the firm.
According to National Assembly Transport committee chairman David Pkosing, the government has now embarked on negotiations with the debtors to find a way of restoring the fortunes of the firm as soon as possible.
“When the government will be negotiating with debtors, all the money will not be paid by the people of Kenya but will be shared,” Pkosing said, as quoted by Daily Nation.
If the report is adopted, the government will be expected to settle the debts of the airline.
The airline is expected to pay debts owed to different companies. Some of the debts include Equity Bank Sh5.2 billion, DTB Bank Sh3.3 billion, National Bank Sh3.5 billion, KCB Group Sh2.1 billion, CBA Group Sh3.1 billion, and Co-operative Bank Sh3.3 billion.