Roads and Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has hit back at CNN correspondent Larry Madowo after he faulted the government over the situation at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
The whole drama started on April 10, 2024, when Madowo touched down at JKIA and was rained on as he got off the terminal to board the car.
The journalist claimed that the government's upper echelons didn't bother about building a rain shed at JKIA because they are not exposed to the elements when using the VIP section.
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"JKIA still won’t protect us from the rain after all these years? Do we have no capacity for shame? Your leaders don’t experience this JKIA shame because they get picked up from the plane, to an exclusive government VIP section, and then straight into a waiting car. They don’t mix with the masses. But I’ll keep posting until things improve," Larry Madowo on on his social media account.
Madowo's post stirred up a furious reaction on social media as netizens pointed out JKIA's glaring inefficiencies.
Murkomen ultimately got a chance to respond to Madowo during an interview on a local TV station on Monday night April 16, 2024.
The Transport CS accused Larry Madowo of suddenly having an open mind on how airports should look and operate just because he now lives abroad.
"By the way, I saw one of your friends (Larry) taking videos at the airport and he said ‘oh, you know this airport, it rains on people at the exit’.
" And you know I was laughing because Larry has been with us in the country for the last 50 years when this airport was like that, but suddenly because he is now living in majuu (abroad), suddenly his eyes are open and he realises that there is no shade when you exit JKIA," Murkomen said.
He added that; "It happens to all of us when we travel. These questions should have been asked long ago – since 1978. It is not news that JKIA does not have a canopy to protect passengers, it is a fact.
"There is a plan. I promise the country that we will use private sector investment to build a new terminal. I want to tell Kenyans that by the time we go to the next elections, we will have a new terminal at least completed or almost completed that will make JKIA a more competitive airport with facilities that will be enviable and make us an aviation hub."
Gaslighting the situation
Responding to Murkomen in a series of posts on X, Larry Madowo accused the CS of gaslighting the whole situation.
"Premium gaslighting, deflecting & trivializing the issues: 1. JKIA is 66 - 30yrs older than me 2. You don’t need a pre-election terminal to build canopies for the existing ones 3. I didn’t “suddenly” discover how bad JKIA is, I’ve complained about it for 10 yrs," he wrote on X.
The journalist further shared old posts on X going far back as 2017 when he complained about JKIA's inefficiencies.
This tweet is from 2014. Does this look like “suddenly” to you? https://t.co/qeBsMfmsqr— Larry Madowo (@LarryMadowo) April 16, 2024
This marketplace vibe has not changed in 10 years https://t.co/Klp7GAHLyk— Larry Madowo (@LarryMadowo) April 16, 2024
How is this OK? https://t.co/swrnDx8rvd— Larry Madowo (@LarryMadowo) April 16, 2024
If it's not the escalators broken down for ages, the toilets aren't working or the roof is leaking. The incompetence is legendary https://t.co/Pv3ZNV8Nm1— Larry Madowo (@LarryMadowo) April 16, 2024
New Singapore, right? https://t.co/jp0q9XOoGJ— Larry Madowo (@LarryMadowo) April 16, 2024
