Editor,

The news in your paper’s Saturday issue that Justice Minister Tharcisse Karugarama, Deputy Speaker of Parliament Denis Polisi and Senetor Specioza Ayinkamiye suffered unacceptable maltreatments by  KQ, gives me an opportunity to expose the utter unreliability of this airline’s operatives.

I am a Rwandan living in the Diaspora. In 2008, while traveling with KQ between Australia and Rwanda, the following happened to me. On my return journey Kigali-Nairobi we were "kept in the dark” at the Kenyatta International Airport, until close to midnight when we were told that the KQ plane that was to continue with us had technical problems but they offered free hotel accommodations.

Instead of presenting my Australian passport I presented my Rwandan passport, to qualify for the waiver of visa requirements for entering Kenya and staying overnight, as was advised by the relevant Kenya airport staff.

The next day we took off but I and a score of other travelers were erroneously taken to Hong Kong (instead of the right transit route via Bangkok) where we spent hours waiting for an uncertain reconnection flight Hong Kong-Australia.

At long last we managed to be flown to Australia, but upon my arrival all my luggage was missing and it took close to a full week for me to be re-united with my luggage.

During my latest visit home in Rwanda between 23/01/10-24/02/10, I bought the

Emirates Airline’s return ticket, but I still had to fly with the KQ between Nairobi and Kigali. Upon my arrival at the Kigali International Airport, again my luggage was missing and it took closer to 2 weeks to trace it back to Nairobi and eventually deliver it to me.

I will never fly with the dysfunctional and unreliable Kenya Airways and I encourage our own nascent Rwanda Air to actively compete and effectively displace the dangerously untrustworthy KQ.

Oswald C. Ntagengerwa

oswaldntage@yahoo.com.au