CS Macharia: The wrongs committed by man who told Kenyans about China plane

By Daniel Kariuki and Brian Okoth

Transport minister James Macharia insists Gire Ali was justly suspended from work after filming a Chinese plane with 239 passengers on board touching down at the JKIA on February 26. The filming of the flight was done on the back of increased fears over coronavirus importation into the country.

In his suspension letter dated February 27, Gire, a security agent at the JKIA, was told that he had breached Kenya Airways’ staff conduct guidelines.

“It has been determined that you be suspended from duty with effect from 27th February 2020 in accordance with provisions of clause 16.5 of the Company HR Policy Manual,” part of the letter signed by KQ Chief Human Resources Officer, Evelyne Munyoki, read.

Gire has, however, obtained a court order that has lifted his suspension.

On Monday, March 2, the High Court stopped security authorities from arresting or prosecuting Gire.

Justice Weldon Korir ordered the Kenya Airways to reinstate the petitioner.

The judge issued the orders after Gire moved to court complaining that he was being targeted.

Through his laywer, Danstan Omari, he said he witnessed the landing of the China Southern Airlines plane at the Nairobi airport, contrary to communication by KQ that flights from China had been suspended.

He listed the Kenya Airports Authority, Kenya Aviation Workers Union, Institute of Human Resource Management and the Health, Defence and Interior Cabinet secretaries as interested parties. The case will be mentioned on March 5 before Justice Korir.

Transport CS James Macharia, however, insists that Gire deserved to be suspended as his action of filming the airport “exposed the facility to security threat”.

“The said-whistleblower was committing an illegality,” the minister told the National Assembly and Senate Joint Committee on Health on Wednesday, March 4.

“That [China Southern Airlines] flight was not arriving in secret, and even me -- the CS -- cannot film a plane landing [at any international airport in the country] as that is a security breach. Remember Gire was an employee, and he should have known better,” said Macharia.

The CS’s remarks come five days after Gire alleged that his life was in danger.

Speaking exclusively to K24 Digital last Friday, Ali said “so many mobile phone numbers have been calling me, but I fear the callers are out to establish my whereabouts”.

“As a result, I refused to receive the calls because I believe they are tracking me down,” said Ali.

The Kenya Airways employee told us that on Thursday — before being ordered to leave the station — he was interrogated for at least six hours, with the senior security officers demanding to know why he was subjecting the airport to national and global scrutiny.

“In my six-hour interrogation, which began at 11am and ended at 5pm, I was intimidated and harassed by the senior airport staff,” he said.

“After grilling me for that long, they told me to surrender my station access cards and wait for the company’s verdict on the fate of my job.”

Ali, who has worked at the JKIA for one-year-and-two-months, said even as the firm conducted its independent investigations, he was “ready to cooperate with the investigators, but I have to be assured of my safety”.

Recounting the February 26 incident that landed him in trouble, Ali said after the China Southern Airlines plane touched down at the JKIA, he and other junior security officers refused to have the passengers cleared for arrival.

“The plane stayed on the airside for one hour as we stood our ground that the passengers won’t be allowed to alight and enter Kenya. However, a single call from a senior government official to our lead security officers changed everything! Within 40 minutes, all the 239 passengers had been cleared for arrival, much to our shock,” said Ali.

The youthful man said his job “entails ensuring the safety of passengers who land at the airport”.