Saitoti ‘received’ report on ill-equipped airwing

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JENNIFER MUIRURI | NATION Col Eutychus Karumba Waithaka, the executive secretary of the Kenya Association of Air Operators testifies in Nairobi on November 08, 2012 before the commission investigating the helicopter crash that killed former Internal Security minister George Saitoti and five others. 

By Vincent Agoya vagoya@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Thursday, November 8  2012 at  21:00

IN SUMMARY

• Witness pokes holes into management of aircraft by police and calls for change

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Former Internal Security minister George Saitoti received a report detailing shortfalls in the police airwing eight months before he and five others died in a helicopter crash.

The report was prepared  by a committee of experts including a witness testifying before the commission investigating the June 10 accident.

The committee had proposed the creation of a legal framework “to enable state aircraft particularly those operated by the Kenya Police to come under surveillance of Kenya Civil Aviation Authority for oversight on safe flight operations”.

Col Eutychus Karumba Waithaka  said that “as far as air operations were concerned, the airwing lacked proper safety systems”

He said the unit operated without maintenance organisations for servicing its aircraft and lacked an insurance policy.

The witness said the airwing’s documentation on technical equipment in the hangar was wanting.

Overall, he told the commission led by Lady Justice Kalpana Rawal, the airwing lacked an oversight legal system, was understaffed and ill-equipped to be a safe air service provider.

He said the department had a number of aircraft that were grounded for lack of spares which could not be obtained on time because of procurement  bottlenecks in government.

“They cannot get spares on time from the aircraft manufacturers as it proves to be tedious process,” he said.

Flying VIPs

Col Karumba also decried  the training of pilots at the airwing, saying they were not competent and that their role of flying VIPs was most wanting.

He said the Kenya Wildlife Society has an elaborate safety programme and aircraft maintenance procedures adhered to and checked to the last signature.

He said the report was forwarded to the secretariat of the police reforms committee and handed over to Prof Saitoti on November 4, 2011.

Judge Rawal noted that apart from timelines for adoption, a methodology may prove more important for the implementation of the report.

The witness also said the government should make the cause of accidents public without ‘editing” so that lessons are learnt to prevent similar occurrences from recurring.

The witness also took a swipe at the regulatory author  KCAA  citing corruption in its ranks . He said some pilots were getting licences through the back door.