KALPA were very much involved and probably only agreed to the recruitment if the pay offered was nowhere near theirs !!
you bet. A couple of years ago, Kenya Airways advertised some positions on the B.737 for contractors. They didn't take any expats at all in the end, due to KALPA's intervention, but in any case it would have taken somebody quite desperate to accept those lousy T&Cs.
Considering their very poor safety record surely some experience in the pointy end of their machines is in order?
Don't think so. Experienced pilots from outside will NOT necessarily make it better in any way.
"Experience" in terms of simply having a lot of flying hours doesn't mean a thing about how good or how bad a pilot is; even less so does the fact that he is someone from abroad prove anything. There are plenty of experienced Kenyans around who can handle a 737 or 777 very well.
The safety-problems at KQ have a quite different reason.