Tourism CS Najib Balala has accused Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho of playing politics with the garbage situation in the county.
The Mombasa government is grappling with huge piles of garbage, which has been blamed for the cholera outbreak in the county.
The chikungunya outbreak in Mombasa has also been a headache. The county government early this month bought five fogging machines to fight chikungunya, but some residents say the strategy has failed.
Balala on Saturday said such outbreaks are a shame to the county.
“We have to make sure we have cleaned up the City of Mombasa. We have to address the issue of chikungunya and cholera," he said..
“We can’t be having these diseases and expect people to come into Mombasa. Let’s not play politics.”
Balala spoke during an induction workshop of the National Assembly Committee on Sports, Tourism and Wildlife at PrideInn Paradise Beach Resort in Mombasa.
Joho has been working hard to redeem himself over the garbage situation. He has had several run-ins with national government officials over the garbage.
The most recent is his spat with outgoing Health CS Cleopa Mailu, who accused the Mombasa administration of not reporting such disease outbreaks to the national government in time.
Joho retorted by slamming Mailu for “maliciously damaging the county’s image to retain his position”.
He said Mailu was playing politics with the matter so he could be retained in the Cabinet, because “such an attack would please the government”.
But Balala said highlighting the matter is not the same as addressing it.
“You make sure you stop [the diseases] from the beginning, rather than coming out when the problem is big,” Balala said.
Kenya
won a bid to host the
78th SKAL
International World Congress in 2018, set for October 17-21 in Mombasa.
Balala said the conference could be in jeopardy if the chikungunya and cholera outbreaks are not addressed fast.
“Even this conference might have a danger of being cancelled,” he said.
Balala went to Monaco, France, to lobby for the hosting rights of the conference.
In 2015, Mombasa won the hosting rights, but it was called off over security concerns after al Shabaab intensified attacks.
SKAL International is an organisation that promotes global travel and tourism.
It has 17,000 members in 400 clubs in 87 countries.
The congress will not only allow Kenya to be marketed worldwide, but also showcase Kenya as a tourism destination.