MOMBASA County-Jan 12, 2025-Kenya sits at the crossroads of Africa’s fastest-growing aviation and logistics corridors, yet we are trying to compete in a new era using airport infrastructure designed for an old one. Our competitors are not waiting.
Addis Ababa has built a formidable hub around Ethiopian Airlines. Dubai and Doha continue to raise global standards for connectivity and passenger experience. Closer home, Kigali has made a strategic bet that should focus our minds: Rwanda has partnered with Qatar Airways to develop Bugesera International Airport, structured around building, owning, and operating a modern gateway, with the airline taking a majority stake.
The lesson is clear. Airports are no longer just infrastructure assets; they are economic platforms. A modern international airport attracts airlines, conferences, tourism, perishable exports, e-commerce logistics, aircraft maintenance, and the thousands of jobs that flow from global connectivity.
Upgrading airport capacity and service standards is not about terminals alone—it is about national competitiveness. Kigali’s approach recognises that capital, airline networks, and operational expertise can be partnered for public benefit, provided the deal is transparent, well-structured, and firmly anchored in the national interest.
Kenya must now make a similar strategic leap—decisively, but carefully. The intense public debate around airport concessions and PPPs in recent years should not paralyse us. On the contrary, it should compel us to do things better. We cannot avoid difficult decisions simply because they attract scrutiny.
Instead, we must raise the bar: stronger procurement integrity, full disclosure of key terms, independent value-for-money assessments, and enforceable performance obligations. Kenyans must be able to see clearly what is being offered, what is being exchanged, and how risks are shared.
The cost of inaction is real. Aviation demand will grow, competition will intensify, and countries that fail to modernise will lose routes, cargo opportunities, and tourism revenues. Even the National Government has acknowledged the need to expand and modernise airport capacity and has explored financing models beyond traditional budgetary allocations, including development finance and PPP frameworks.
This is why Kenya must pursue a deliberate PPP strategy that looks beyond Nairobi and places Moi International Airport, Mombasa, at the center of national planning. If Kenya is serious about being a logistics and tourism powerhouse, Mombasa cannot remain an afterthought.
The coastal airport sits alongside the region’s busiest seaport, on the Indian Ocean rim, serving a vast hinterland stretching deep into East and Central Africa. It already functions as a gateway for trade, cruises, beach and cultural tourism, and the blue economy. With the right investment, it can evolve into a passenger and cargo hub that complements—not competes with—Nairobi, while strengthening Kenya’s overall economic resilience.
Redeveloping Moi International Airport must therefore be framed as a national competitiveness project with clear, measurable outcomes: expanded terminal capacity and improved passenger experience; modern baggage handling and security systems; enhanced airside efficiency; upgraded cargo facilities, cold-chain infrastructure, and perishable export capacity; and a credible strategy to attract and retain international carriers through reliable turnaround times and world-class service standards.
The PPP structure must reward performance—timelines, service quality, safety compliance, affordability, and tangible local economic benefits such as jobs, skills transfer, local supplier participation, and tourism growth.
Above all, public interest must be protected. That requires competitive tendering, transparent disclosure, independent technical and financial due diligence, and strong regulatory oversight to prevent monopoly pricing and guarantee service quality.
Sovereignty must be ring-fenced: the asset remains Kenyan; the partnership is about building and operating to agreed standards for a defined period, with clear reversion terms and dispute-resolution mechanisms. Kenya’s PPP framework already recognizes these principles; what is required now is discipline and political courage in applying them.
If Kigali can strategically partner to build a new gateway and attract global routes, Kenya—Africa’s larger economy and one of its most dynamic destinations—can certainly modernize and expand its airports to lead rather than chase. The question is not whether the region will develop aviation hubs. It is whether Kenya will be among them.
Let us therefore make a clear national commitment: redevelop Kenya’s international airports with urgency and place Moi International Airport at the heart of a coastal aviation and logistics strategy. Let us compete on quality, capacity, and efficiency. Let us meet controversy with transparency—not retreat.
And let us embrace smart PPPs that deliver world-class infrastructure while safeguarding Kenyan interests.
The future of our connectivity—and the jobs and opportunities it creates—demands nothing less.
(The writer Abdulswamad Shariff Nassir is the Mombasa Governor and ODM Deputy Party Leader)
