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The runway excursion at Mandera Airstrip on April 24, in which 36 passengers and four crew members narrowly escaped tragedy, should end any lingering ambiguity about the facility’s fitness for civil aviation. That there were no fatalities is fortunate; that such an incident occurred at all is unacceptable.

For Kenya Airports Authority and Kenya Civil Aviation Authority, the policy response must be immediate and unequivocal: degazette the airstrip for scheduled commercial operations and initiate a full-spectrum compliance audit of operators serving the route.

The facts are not new. The current airstrip is an unmurramed surface embedded within a military camp, hemmed in by residential and commercial structures. This configuration contravenes basic aerodrome design and safeguarding principles—runway strip grading, Obstacle Limitation Surfaces (OLS), Runway End Safety Areas (RESA) and controlled land-use zoning are either deficient or absent.

During rains, the surface deteriorates into mud, degrading braking action and increasing the probability of runway excursions. Friday’s incident is therefore not an anomaly; it is a predictable outcome of operating jet-age schedules on infrastructure that fails minimum certification thresholds.

From a regulatory standpoint, continued commercial use raises serious questions of compliance with the Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) that guide civil aviation safety regimes. Whether assessed against national regulations or global benchmarks, the risk profile at Mandera is materially elevated.

A runway that cannot guarantee all-weather operability, adequate friction coefficients and protected approach/departure paths should not host routine passenger services. The principle is straightforward: where mitigation cannot reliably reduce risk to an acceptable level, operations must cease.

Equally concerning are operational practices reported on the route—ageing aircraft, tight payload margins and pressures that may incentivise overloading or suboptimal dispatch decisions. These factors compound airfield deficiencies.

Safety in aviation is systemic; weak links accumulate. A compromised runway paired with marginal equipment and operational stressors is precisely the kind of layered risk that accident investigations repeatedly flag before catastrophic outcomes.

Degazettement is not punitive; it is protective. Temporarily withdrawing the airstrip from the list of approved aerodromes for commercial passenger traffic would create the regulatory space to enforce corrective action without exposing the public to continued hazard.

In parallel, the regulator should institute an immediate audit programme covering airworthiness, maintenance records, crew duty time, load control and operator compliance on the Nairobi-Mandera sector. Where breaches are identified, enforcement must be visible and consequential.

Critics will argue that suspending flights will further isolate Mandera. That concern is legitimate—but it does not justify normalising unsafe operations. The correct policy sequence is to pair restriction with replacement.

The long-delayed Karo Airport project must be fast-tracked as a matter of national priority, with a certified paved runway, compliant Runway End Safety Area (RESA), proper perimeter control and instrument procedures that enable reliable access in varied weather.

Interim measures—such as controlled use of alternative aerodromes within safe reach, or limited humanitarian/essential flights under strict conditions—can mitigate disruption while a compliant facility is delivered.

Land questions should not be a veto point. Under the Community Land Act, 2016, unregistered community land is held in trust by county governments pending formal registration. This legal framework exists precisely to prevent paralysis in the delivery of public goods. Community engagement, fair compensation and transparent siting processes are non-negotiable—but so is the state’s duty to protect life and provide safe infrastructure.

Mandera’s strategic location at the Kenya-Somalia-Ethiopia tri-border makes dependable air connectivity a national security and economic imperative. A compliant airport would lower costs, stabilise schedules, support humanitarian logistics and unlock cross-border trade. Persisting with a substandard strip does the opposite: it elevates risk, inflates fares and undermines confidence in the aviation system.

Friday’s near-miss should be the inflection point. Kenya Airports Authority and Kenya Civil Aviation Authority must act—degazette the current facility, audit operators and accelerate delivery of a modern airport. Safety is not negotiable, and in Mandera, it is now demonstrably compromised.

Governance, Peace and Security Management Horn of Africa specialist and CEO Sambul Consulting