Kisumu Governor Prof Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o has asked his county staff members to stop using Safarilink airline, terming exorbitant charges.
The position taken by Kisumu Governor has been informed by the latest charges meted on the Governor himself when he was traveling from Nairobi’s Wilson airport to Kisumu’s International airport in an early morning urgent trip.
The governor had booked the flight the previous night.
According to the Kisumu Governor, charges for Nairobi-Kisumu trip are always between Sh5,500- Sh7,000. That night, the governor had called his secretary so that the secretary would brief him on the travel program. The secretary assured him that all was well – except that the airline was charging Sh19,000.
The Safarilink airline, on their side, defended their pricing, saying that the charges range from 5,500-19,000, depending on the time that one books a seat. “The earlier one books the cheaper the fare. In this instance, you booked this flight directly from our website the evening before the flight and hence the fare was based on the last seat available,” said Safarilink statement.
Despite the airline committing to continue supporting Kisumu County with regular flights and welcome Governor Nyong’o on board, the county boss issued a directive to the staff against using Safarilink for any trip effective February 9, 2023.
Safarilink was further astounded why Kisumu Governor would take such a draconian stance against them when during trying moments, the airline stood with the County. They termed as unfortunate the remarks by the county chief, blaming him of “being ungrateful” for failing to recognise the concessions they have made for him over the years.
“We, in turn, have supported the Kisumu County in various ways with various sponsorships towards various projects and you personally when we have held back flights when you were running late,” they said in their rejoinder.
