Tourism turf wars stall efforts to market Kenya

By Njiraini Muchira and Macharia Kamau

 Efforts to consolidate the positive gains of the tourism sector recorded in recent years could be jeopardised following sharp differences between the Tourism ministry and industry players.

Just when the fragile sector is hoping to manoeuvre a delicate period as Kenya heads to the more often-chaotic General Election, disagreements between the ministry and stakeholders over strategies to promote further growth of the sector are now threatening the gains realised over the past three years.

Signs that all is not well came to the limelight last week when Tourism Minister Dan Mwazo refused to renew the contract of the former Kenya Tourists Board (KTB) Managing Director Muriithi Ndegwa, despite positive recommendations by the KTB board. In a statement, the minister only made reference to Ndegwa’s three-year term contract that had expired and that he had appointed Jacinta Nzioka-Mbithi (pictured), who was KTB’s regional marketing manager for Europe as the new acting managing director.    

“At 37, Nzioka-Mbithi has grown in competence and capability and has risen through the ranks while participating in the development of Kenya’s tourism marketing strategies when the industry was faced with different challenges,” the minister said.

What Mwazo did not say, however, is that since his appointment in March, what former minister Najib Balala had managed to cultivate among stakeholders in marketing Kenya as a destination had long vanished. Mwazo, whom industry players contend as having made major blunders particularly in appointments of Parastatal heads under him, also failed to acknowledge that KTB board had in August recommended the renewal of Ndegwa’s term for another three years. When contacted by Weekly Business, Ndegwa did not want to discuss the reasons, but made reference that he was ready to serve for another term.

 “Who said I did not want my term renewed? Anyway, I don’t want to comment and I refer you to the appointing authority at the Ministry of Tourism,” he said.

According to industry players, the decision not to renew Ndegwa’s contract could prove costly to the tourism sector.

Sector funding

The sector continues to receive meagre resources despite its significant contribution to the economy.

In March this year, Mwazo promised to request Treasury to allocate the tourism sector Sh5 billion or five per cent of its annual earnings to enable KTB effectively market the country, particularly in new source markets in Asia and Europe to sustain the recovery being experience following the near collapse of the sector in 2008.

 In the June budget, the sector was allocated Sh1.2 billion. “We are unable to break into new markets because of budgetary constraints yet the Government does not seem to care.

This overdependence on traditional markets does not add any value to Kenya as a destination,” said an industry player who did not want to be named because of his close working relationship with KTB.

Mwazo has also been making appointments that do not augur well with some stakeholders. One such appointment was the naming of radio presenter Caroline Mutoko as the chairperson of the Kenya Tourist Development Corporation.

The appointment was later revoked by the High Court on the basis that it was a breach of the law even after Mutoko had quit the position. The court termed the appointment unconstitutional because Mwazo did not inform KTB chairman Mohamed Shaiya that he intended to revoke his job.

 Many feel the minister has not been proactive enough in reassuring source markets about the nature of Kenya as a destination, especially with the security concerns that have been cropping up in the recent past.

“He is not as accessible to the industry or fast enough to reassure the tourism source markets about the country and this has been left to the industry, which has limited resources. It is a very sensitive industry and absence of government officials to reassure them can slow down both arrivals and revenues,” said the source.

Though the Government has tried to vanquish the threats of terrorism emanating from Al Shabaab in Somalia, internal threats from Al Shabaab remnants and sympathisers remain real.

There are also concerns that the coastal region and Mombasa in particular, which is a critical component of the Kenyan tourism circuit, is unsafe due to threats from separatist group, the Mombasa Republican Council (MRC) and the bloodbath witnessed in the Tana Delta recently.

Besides, the uncertainty surrounding the forthcoming General Election is another worry for the extremely sensitive sector.

Also,  there is confusion as to whether the elections will be held as stipulated on March 4 and whether the country will be able to avoid the events that followed the bungled 2007 General Election that nearly brought the sector to its knees.

Though stakeholders contend the sector has fully recovered, there are growing concerns on whether it will be able to consolidate the gains and sustain growth without disruptions.

Under Ndegwa, who was media shy, soft spoken and even reserved, the sector performed well in the face of major challenges that the industry has been facing including surviving on a shoe string budget. Last year, the tourism sector recorded historic earnings of Sh97.3 billion while arrivals stood at 1.7 million tourists.

During the first six months of this year, January to June, the sector recorded a three per cent growth of arrivals to 564,835 compared to 549,083 posted last year.

Surpass Sh100 billion

 If all goes according to projections, the sector should surpass the Sh100 billion in earnings this year. Interestingly, it is not the first time that the ministry has tried to push Ndegwa from the helm of the tourism industry-marketing agency. Last year, Mr Balala had appointed Dr Nelson Githinji the  KTB managing director after he was forwarded to the ministry from the Office of the President.

Balala, however, became aware of the fact that the managing director to KTB has to be competitively recruited soon enough and appointed Githinji the tourism Secretary at the ministry.

Ndegwa was appointed KTB managing director in October 2009 after the position fell vacant after former MD Dr Achieng Ong’ong’a was forced out in March 2008 following corrupt dealings, of which he was recently convicted and sentenced to a jail term.

Before appointment to KTB, Ndegwa had held the position of managing director at East African Cables, Tanzania and is said to have turned the fortunes of the firm around.

The overbearing powers of ministers on parastatals will soon come to an end come next year given the new constitutional dispensation stipulates that non-politicians will hold the positions of Cabinet Secretary.