It is unfortunate that the State House Tourism Summit opened by President Uhuru Kenyatta in Mombasa yesterday had none of the Coast region’s governors present (see page 11).
The governors of tourism hubs Kilifi and Kwale as well as Mombasa’s Hassan Joho, the host, did not attend. Only Narok Governor Samuel Tunai was present among county leaders.
And although Tunai represents the county that hosts the Masai Mara and the annual Great Migration of plains animals, the Eighth Wonder of the World, it is important that governors Joho, Amason Kingi and Salim Mvurya should have been present.
Tourism CS Najib Balala says they were all invited through the Council of Governors’ Tourism committee but Joho insists he received no invite. This toing and froing misses the big picture, which is that adversarial politics must not impinge on the revival of the tourism sector.
Tourism is too important a sector of the national economy to be subjected to political likes and dislikes.
