By Linah Benyawa
Head of the Civil Service Francis Kimemia and Tourism minister Dan Mwazo have accused the US of economic sabotage for issuing the latest terror alert warning US citizens to leave Mombasa.
The city has been on the edge following alerts from Western nations led by the US, Canada and the UK warning of an imminent terror attack in Mombasa or coastal resorts frequented by foreign tourists.
On Sunday Kimemia said Kenya has written a protest note to America through the US Embassy in Nairobi demanding a reversal of the terror advisory.
Mwazo rushed to Mombasa to calm down fears and arrest flight and tourism cancellations in a region that accounts for 62 per cent of all tourist arrivals in Kenya.
The minister said the Government “is disturbed by the travel advisory issued by the US because it amounts to economic sabotage” accusing the Americans of being malicious and insensitive “to issue such as an advisory, which would cripple the entire tourism industry.”
He claimed the Kenya Government supplied the information to the US “in good faith” but the information was used against Kenyans.
And on Sunday an object suspected to be an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was retrieved when it was washed up the shores of the Indian Ocean. But police said the object, the size of a six kilogramme gas cylinder is a “navigation equipment used by ships”. “There is no cause for alarm as the object is just a navigation gadget used to show direction, it is not a bomb,” stated Likoni OCPD Abaggaro Guyo.
Bomb disposal unit of the Kenya Navy took the device away.
The object bore cell phone numbers telling whoever would find it to ring the number. And to entice people to call the number the inscriptions of the object promise a hefty cash price in US currency: “Whoever finds the object will get a reward of 500 dollars.” There were also contacts left on the reward tag.
“We were scared when we saw the object. We feared it was a live bomb that is why the G4S guards called police officers from the Anti-Terror Police Unit who came and examined the gadget,” said Eunice Nyakoha.
Meanwhile, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka has taken issue with the US government for issuing travel advisory to its citizens in the country.
