Kenya Airways: Not yet uhuru!
Imagine yourself waiting for your luggage after a hop-step-and-jump journey in a foreign land only to discover that the airline had let you down. What do you do? Laugh, cry or vex? In that situation, nothing works. The only acceptable solution is for somebody to tell you that it was all a huge mistake and […]
Imagine yourself waiting for your luggage after a hop-step-and-jump journey in a foreign land only to discover that the airline had let you down. What do you do? Laugh, cry or vex? In that situation, nothing works. The only acceptable solution is for somebody to tell you that it was all a huge mistake and that your luggage was with the gentleman on the next counter. “Sorry for the mix-up, sir; have a nice day”. But there was nothing of such. My luggage was missing, pure and simple. And if I had any doubt as to the desperation of my situation, the fact that I had worn the same clothes for two straight days jolted me back to reality.
It had been an Abuja-Nairobi-Yaoundé connection through Kenya Airways. That ‘Israelite-journey’ route itself had brought the problems of Africa home to me in sharp relief. There was no direct flight between Nigeria and Cameroon even though both countries are next-door neighbours. Nigeria is Anglophone; Cameroon is francophone. One brother cannot understand the lingo of another brother because foreign powers stand in the middle to determine if, how, when, for how long, and by what means we communicate.
I had to attend the annual conference of the African Public Relations Association (APRA) in Yaoundé. There was no direct flight from Nigeria. You either had to go though Lagos to Lome in Togo and then return through a combination of Yaoundé-Douala bus ride and a Douala-Lome-Lagos flight. Since I didn’t want the land and air combo, I opted for an Abuja-Nairobi-Yaounde flight by Kenya Airways which would get me to the conference and return me to my Abuja base in good time and with minimum stress.
Alas! Man proposes, Kenya Airways disposes! On getting to Yaoundé on the first leg of the Abuja-Nairobi-Yaounde trip, I spent two hours waiting for my luggage only to find out that it had not been brought by the airline. What to do? I was advised to approach the airline’s counter.
“So sorry about your plight, sir; more so as you are a business class passenger. Please fill this form. We shall deliver your luggage to your hotel tomorrow since we have another plane coming in from Nairobi tomorrow”, a Kenya Airways staff unctuously cooed. I swallowed my anger, filled the form and proceeded to the transit hotel to rest my weary bones. I was so distraught I emailed the airline’s staff in Abuja who had midwifed the transaction. She apologised profusely and promised that her manager would ensure that everything was put right.
It turned out to be an empty promise. There was no word from Kenya Airways thenceforwards. If you haven’t been caught in that unfortunate situation before, you would be at a loss as to the next line of action. I chose to be practical: I headed for the market to buy new clothes and suitcase. Then it was the turn of the pharmacy where I bought my regular medication.
Throughout my stay in Yaoundé – and indeed as I write this piece, Kenya Airways has not considered it necessary to contact me. Perhaps it is a regular occurrence. Ship your passenger to a foreign land and separate him from his luggage. An attempt to ask questions from the airline’s staff on my return trip from Nairobi only seemed to irritate them. “If your luggage is missing, they will find it and send it to you”, one bored over-mascara-ed lady said dismissively. Who were the “they” under reference, you would wonder.
Then the thought hit me: this is how otherwise viable enterprises are killed in Africa through bad service delivery. Nigeria Airways used to be one of the best in the world, but when round pegs were squeezed into square holes, everything fell apart. It is certainly not prophetic to say that if Kenya Airways continues losing patronage as it has now lost mine, the airline will eventually find itself at the doorstep of undertakers – which would be sad. I say sad because Kenya Airways pilots are, in my books, some of the best in the business. I am always very observant of how a pilot takes off, navigates treacherous clouds and how he lands at destination. Kenya Airways passed that test, But the airline has lost my custom. It does not know how to treat its passengers with decency. Even if things go wrong, one would have expected somebody with authority to immediately try to make amends. But I found myself splendidly alone with no word from the airline that had misplaced my luggage and I had to return to my country with a new set of clothes to lick my wounds.
Evil triumphs when good people do nothing. For the sake of encouraging better standards in the airline industry in Africa, those who are dealt a rough deal ought not to take it lying down. I won’t. So, there’s the story. If you hear about a ‘roforofo’ fight between this writer and Kenya Airways in the days ahead, just know that it is all geared towards ensuring that no other passenger is treated with su h odious contempt as I was. As Fela would have said, “A luta stoppay!”
Shut up, Ngozi!
One of the biggest disappointments in public office in recent times is Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the outgoing administration’s Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister for the Economy. Well, she had guided the economy to turbulent waters, but instead of shutting up as a new captain is about to handle the rudder, she continues to shoot her mouth, spewing forth tired theories and rationalising the many scams of the Jonathan administration.
As the former Central Bank governor, Chukwuma Soludo, has so eloquently demonstrated in his assessment of Mrs Okonjo-Iweala’s mismanagement of the economy, this holder of PhD in regional economic development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has outlived her usefulness as far as the Nigerian economy is concerned. She is not just a vendor of expired capitalist theories but also a defender of graft as was the case during the controversial case of $20 billion allegedly missing from the accounts of the NNPC.
Mrs Okonjo-Iweala will have a lot of questions to answer in the days ahead.