- Tourism CS Peninnah Malonza said the country lost revenue running into millions of shillings due to political instability caused by Azimio’s street protests.
- Malonza told senators that due to advisories to tourists that the country is not safe, tourists have avoided Kenya.
Image: EZEKIEL AMING'A
Tourism CS Peninnah Malonza has said Kenya lost revenue running into millions of shillings due to political instability caused by Azimio’s street protests.
Malonza told senators due to advisories to tourists that the country was not a safe, visitors have avoided visiting the country.
She said a cruise ship scheduled to dock at the Port of Mombasa in March, was forced to change its destination to Zanzibar, costing the county more than Sh80 million.
The ship with about 1,000 tourists was supposed to stay in the country for four to five days.
The majority of cruise tourists are high-end spending visitors who visit wildlife parks, beaches and historical sites.
“The loss we got from that one cruise ship was Sh80 million. One tourist supports six jobs in this country,” Malonza said.
“Even if I don’t have the figures on the number of cruise ships that were scheduled to come, I know we suffered a huge loss,” she said.
The CS spoke during questioning by senators in the chamber on Wednesday.
She was among the five CSs scheduled to answer questions in the Senate plenary but only three showed up.
They were Malonza, Kipchumba Murkomen (Roads and Transport) and Zacharia Njeru (Lands and Housing).
Interior CS Kithure Kindiki and his Education counterpart Ezekiel Machogu failed to show up in the chamber for questioning.
Malonza was responding to a question by Nominated Senator Veronica Maina about the number of cruise ships that were scheduled to dock in Kenya between January 2022 and June 2023 but cancelled.
Senator Maina demanded answers on why the cruise ships if any had changed their destination from Kenya.
However, Malonza could not quantify the revenue losses the country suffered in the entire tourism sector as a result of the opposition demos.
“I think as a nation it's importantKenyans are made to understand the amount of loss we experience when we engage in maandamanos and the effects of that,” Uasin Gishu Senator Jackson Mandago said.
The plenary session was boycotted by opposition senators who questioned the legality of the CSs’ grilling by the whole House.
Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot asked CS Malonza to furnish the House with details of what he termed serious economic sabotage caused by the anti-government protest.
“The CS has cited the indicators to quantify the loss of revenue to the country due to the Azimo demos by this one cruise ship due to political instability,” Cheruiyot said.
Senate Amason Kingi directed CS Malonza to prepare a comprehensive answer on the extent of loss in the entire tourism sector.
“We are going on recess and we will resume the next session on May 23. When we resume you need to furnish all information including the extent of loss not only on cruise ship cancellation but the entire tourism sector."
CS Murkomen told the senators the government has given itself three years to complete stalled road projects countrywide.
He said the State has frozen woks on new projects unlessits development partners agree to particular projects.
“If we have to start new roads, it will be the ones we have discussed with our development partners where they are giving us concessional support to build them," he said.
“Our dream is that in the next three years, most of the pending roads are complete.
"However, our challenge is debt. The unregulated borrowing in the previous administration is affecting us. If you find yourself in a hole, you do not continue digging,”the CS said.
He said government has constructed 21,556km tarmac roads since independence.
“A number of roads were launched in 2016-17 and left without being completed. Some roads have been pending for more than eight years. We will not start any new roads until we complete the pending roads,” Murkomen said.
He affirmed to the senators that in the next five years, all the marginalised counties will have more tarmacked roads.
“In another five years, the question of marginalisation will be a thing of the past, especially on infrastructure through the Horn of Africa projects," he said.
Murkomen alongside other Cabinet Secretaries were responding to Senators' questions for the second time after the Senate amended its Standing Orders to allow Cabinet Secretaries answer members’ question on the floor of the House.
(Edited by V. Graham)