Mombasa county gives jobless tour drivers food

For 21 years, Swaleh Karama has been a tour driver in Mombasa.

The father of seven says in all those years working with leading tour firms at the Coast he never experienced anything close to the effects of Covid-19.

“For the first time in my history, I do not have cash to take care of my family,” Karama said.

He was among more than 120 tour drivers rendered jobless after the global tourism industry was hit by Covid-19.

Over 30 hotels, including five-star one, have closed, throwing some 12,000 people employed directly into misery.

On Thursday, the Mombasa county government organised food packs for over 120 tour drivers who are suffering due to lack of money and food.

“We all know that tour drivers are among the people who were hard-hit by Covid-19. Therefore, today we are here to donate food packs to drivers,” said Aisha Abdi, acting tourism chief officer.

She spoke during the food distribution exercise at Indiana Hotel.

Mombasa County Youth, Gender and Sports Chief Officer, Innocent Mugabe, said the county government was targeting not only the those in tourism industry but also all vulnerable people in society.

The county government launched the Mombasa County Emergency Household Relief and Nutrition Support Project in March to support over 230,000 vulnerable families during this period.

“We are targeting over 230,000 households in Mombasa county. So far, we have been able to reach out to over 30,000 households and the exercise is still ongoing,” Mugabe said.

He said they have been distributing food in some major slum in Nyali, Mvita, Changamwe and Likoni constituencies.

Edited by Henry Makori