I’m here to stay, Kenya Airways CEO says over resignation rumour

NAIROBI, Kenya

National carrier, Kenya Airways, has dismissed rumours that started this morning that Dr Titus T. Naikuni, the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, had resigned to join government.

“I am still a full-time employee of Kenya Airways,” Naikuni clarified this afternoon, as excitement spread among business journalists who had started planning for end-of-an-era pieces on him. “Any information to the contrary is untrue and should be ignored.”

The rumour indicated that Mr Naikuni was destined to become a cabinet secretary and some analysts had already began speculating on how he would run a ministry. Sources, tough, indicated that the Jubilee government of President Uhuru Kenyatta was seriously considering appointing him a cabinet secretary.

“Here is what to expect if Titus Naikuni is in the Cabinet,” Gitahi Njeri, a journalist based in Nairobi who has closely observed Naikuni’s management, said on his facebook page. “As a member of the dream team, he was instrumental in crafting the ‘Structural Adjustment Programme that saw 100,000 of Kenyans retrenched….when he was appointed as the MD at KQ, the first thing he did was to retrench as many Kenyans as possible and its place brought as many foreign pilots as possible. Many KQ people, both in management and other levels consider him the most selfish and insensitive manager… His practice of management involves cutting off a problem instead of dealing with a problem.”

See article on anti-rumour campaign at

http://www.businesstoday.co.ke/?q=news/2013/04/18/anti-rumour-campaign-causes-stir