Tender wars at JKIA threaten security and protocol standards, court petition reveals

A fierce tender war over services of meeting and assisting clients leaving and arriving at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport is threatening to expose the facility to security breaches and downgrading of its standards.

A petition filed before the High Court and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission has exposed a battle to control a lucrative tender service of welcoming guests and offering protocol duties to high-end delegations, including top diplomats, foreign military officials and other high-profile guests of the State.

In a petition filed at the High Court of Kenya at Milimani Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Division, it is revealed how the Kenya Airports Authority and its leadership have gone against court orders to award companies that did not qualify for the services to welcome and assist guests at JKIA.

So vicious have been the tender wars that the management of the facility recently had to grapple with incidents of security concern following a lack of professionalism in handling guests arriving and leaving the airport. The first was a revelation last month: how the facility has quickly become a transit point for the global drugs trade.

In the petition by Fredrick Mulaa against Kenya Airports Authority and its acting Managing Director, Dr Mohammed Gedi, Tradewinds Aviation Services Limited and Umbato Safaris Limited, the contravention of the law to favour companies that do not qualify to offer meet and greet services at the airport is revealed.

The bid to have meet and greet services formally recognised by the Kenya Airports Authority was first initiated by Willis Protocol Concierge Services Limited, which asked the authority to tender the services so that they could be offered professionally, like in other airports globally.

Kenya Airports Authority in 2021 publicly advertised for service providers to offer the meet and assist service through tender KAA/OT/JKIA/MBD/00420200. Several companies expressed their interest in offering the services, including Willis Protocol Concierge Services Limited, which had floated the idea of professionalising the services; however, KAA selected Umbato Safaris Limited as one of the concessionaires. This entire tender was, however, nullified by the High Court in March 2021 in Nairobi Judicial Review No. E006 of 2021.

“In the year 2024, Kenya Airports Authority similarly sought service providers for the meet and assist services through tender KAA/RT/MBD/0207/2023-2024 and Tradewinds Aviation Services bid for the said service. On April 18, 2024, the Kenya Airports Authority disqualified the bidder at the technical evaluation stage. This decision was confirmed by the Public Procurement Administration Review Board and the High Court,” notes the petition.

Despite the nullification of the tender and disqualification of the Umbato and Tradewinds to offer the meet and assist services, Kenya Airports Authority still went ahead and entered into contracts, which are ongoing.

Despite a notice courtesy of a court petition, which was well received by Umbato and Tradewinds and EACC on the continuation of illegal and corrupt practices, the parties have ignored the same. According to the petitioner, Kenya Airports Authority and its acting managing director have violated the Constitution.

“Entering into the meet and assist contract with the third 3rd and 4th respondents when the tender in the case of the 4th Respondent had been nullified by the High Court, while in the case of the 3rd Respondent it had been unsuccessful in its bid to tender for the meet and assist service,” notes the petition.

The petitioner now wants the court to declare that Kenya Airports Authority and its leadership violated the law by entering into the meet and assist contract, knowing that the first tender was nullified by the High Court and that Umbato had been unsuccessful in its bid.

In a letter addressed to the Managing Director of Kenya Airports Authority and copied to EACC on October 16, 2025, by S and S Advocates, KAA is accused of favouring Umbato Safaris and Tradewinds Aviation Services Ltd despite a court decision declaring the two companies unfit to be issued with such contracts.

“It is therefore very clear that KAA not only entered into contracts with M/S Umbato Safaris and Tradewinds Aviation Services Ltd contrary to clear court orders which have never been reviewed or appealed, but the same is also illegal based on the fact that KAA is a parastatal and a public body which utilises public funds,” notes the letter.

The tender wars are said to have eroded security and protocol standards at the facility, hence permitting a haven for drug traffickers and other illegal by-passers to take advantage of the situation. Last month, four suspects were arraigned at the JKIA Law Courts on October 7, linked to a narcotics trafficking syndicate operating through the airport.

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This follows a series of operations between October 5 and October 7, 2025, by the Multi-Agency Transnational Organised Crime Unit (TOCU), arresting the four individuals implicated in the smuggling of cocaine destined for both local and international markets.