Derelict planes and demoralised staff unearth the deep rot at police air unit

The three brand new choppers belonging to the Police Air Wing at Wilson Airport on June 29, 2018. Almost a year later, two of the aircraft are grounded at the airport. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Without insurance, an aircraft cannot get a certificate of airworthiness and cannot be allowed to fly.
  • Why the police bought aircraft that cannot be certified as airworthy is a mystery.

  • It is, however, said that KCAA is adamant that it cannot allow an uninsured aircraft to fly.

  • This has put the Police Air Wing between a rock and a hard place.

On the cold morning of June 29 last year, journalists were invited to an event at the Wilson Airport where Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i was set to launch three brand new police helicopters, acquired from Italy.

The CS oozed confidence that the three choppers — two AW139s and one A12 — bought from Augusta Westland at a combined cost of Sh4.6 billion, would help beat back a surging crime wave.

ALARM BELLS

“In 2013, we had three grounded helicopters. Today, we are set to have a total of 11 functional helicopters by next month, in addition to two fixed-wing aircraft,” Dr Matiang’i said during the short ceremony at Wilson.

But, from the word go, there were tell-tale signs that should have rang alarm bells about the new planes. First, Parliament complained that the Interior ministry had procured them without approval. The committee on Security stumbled upon the issue of the aircraft as they were investigating another matter at Wilson Airport.

Then, during the launch of the choppers, ministry top honchos and high-ranking police officers rode in a different helicopter, instead of one of new ones they had come to launch, for a demonstration flight.

Today, almost a year later, two of the aircraft have never left the ground and are just wasting away at the airport. Reason? They have not been cleared to fly within Kenya’s airspace. The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA), which is in charge of regulating the airspace, has declined to say why they could not clear the two planes.

“I can’t tell you because it is a government secret,” Gilbert Kibe, KCAA’s director general, told the Nation. Information available to the Nation, however, indicates that the National Police Service has been unable to get insurance for the two planes.

Without insurance, an aircraft cannot get a certificate of airworthiness and cannot be allowed to fly. Why the police bought aircraft that cannot be certified as airworthy is a mystery. It is, however, said that KCAA is adamant that it cannot allow an uninsured aircraft to fly. This has put the Police Air Wing between a rock and a hard place.

NO TRAINING

This is just the tip of the iceberg as far as problems at the Police Air Wing, whose spending is shrouded in secrecy under guise of national security, go. In November 2016, the Director National Police Air Wing wrote to the Inspector General asking for payment amounting to Sh21,379,288 for training offered to pilots by three firms.

“Forwarded here please find the attached vouchers being cost of training expenses for pilots from this unit. The training was approved by the departmental training committee as per the attached minutes,” said the letter signed by Evans Ochieng on behalf of the Air Wing commander, Mr Rodgers Mbithi.

The Nation has reliably established that two of the companies — Ventura Aviation, which was paid Sh14,757,288 and West Rift Aviation, which received Sh1,423,000 — do not offer any aviation training. In fact, they were not on the list of accredited aviation schools issued through an advertisement by KCAA in the newspapers last Friday.

Mr Mbithi was not available for comment Thursday. From our investigations, we discovered that the engines of the 5Y-DCI that crashed in Boni forest had failed. Interestingly, the chopper was among three that had been shipped out to the Czech Republic a few months before the crash for refurbishment.

It is still unclear why the police would ship a brand new helicopter for refurbishment shortly after buying it, only for the engines to fail a few months later. Three other helicopters — 5Y-EDM, 5Y-STA and 5Y-SFA, which were also recently shipped out for a complete overhaul — have been grounded.

The unit once bought faulty rotor blades at a cost of Sh13 million but the blades only lasted 27 flight hours before needing replacement. The parts were for one of the MI-17 helicopters, registration number 5Y-EDM.

QUALIFICATIONS

5Y-POL and 5Y-GSU, which are caravan planes, are also sitting at Wilson, raising questions about the training of pilots, procurement, safety management, maintenance and airworthiness of the aircraft owned by the police.

According to our count, over the past five years alone, about seven police aircraft have fallen from the sky due to various reasons.

So bad is the situation at the Police Air Wing that sources have told us that the new Inspector General demanded operational changes when he visited their headquarters on Wednesday.

A good place to start would perhaps be human resources, with the air wing not only overstaffed but morale is at its lowest among employees.

The department’s nominal roll, which we have obtained, shows it has 150 employees despite having only two operational aircraft. There are 21 pilots and 39 trainee pilots. Job descriptions however do not consider academic qualifications as a number of crew have been hired as engineers with Form Four certificates.

Tobias Orina Ogeto, a pilot at the department, tendered his resignation on March 29, citing frustrations and corruption at the unit.

Constable Ogeto, who is a holder of a Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL) number 9513, also claimed that he had been denied promotion, funding and the opportunity to undergo instruments rating.

The officer said he had served in the same rank for over six years despite having a CPL. Minutes of a meeting in which his frustrations were discussed held on August 13 last year noted: “PC Orina felt left behind and requested to be considered in the next multi-engines instrument rating training and caravan conversion. He has been waiting for this training since December 2017 when he did his CPL.”

The issue, according to the minutes, was to be acted upon by the director. Instead, he was transferred to Kwale to perform general duties even after he had trained and served as a pilot.