Dina Sherif, a renowned Egyptian entrepreneur and investor based in the US, has exposed an alleged case of extortion at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
The incident happened when she landed at JKIA for a business trip with some branded items.
She was initially asked to pay $1,200 (approx. KSh155,000) for the luggage but the figure kept going down.
Then it went down to 950. Then to 800 (approx. KSh103, 000),” she narrated, adding that none of the staff explained to her how they determined the figure.
She explained that the luggage contained 15 books, 20 T-shirts, and some caps.
“Also, it is worth noting that these items did not even have price tags on them, so they were assigning whatever value they wanted to these items,” she says.
Further, Ms. Sherif, who is also the Executive Director at Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship in Massachusetts, US, says the JKIA staff clearing them mishandled them and confiscated a passport belonging to her colleague.
“They treated myself and my colleague with disrespect. They confiscated my colleague’s passport until we agreed to pay. After agreeing to pay it, it took them an hour to generate a receipt.
“Then when I came to pay by credit card, their system was down,” she narrates, adding that they spent at least five hours at the airport after arriving in the country following the incident.
See her post.
