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{
"id": 61792,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/61792/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Dr. Wekesa",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Wildlife and Forestry",
"speaker": {
"id": 209,
"legal_name": "Noah Mahalang'ang'a Wekesa",
"slug": "noah-wekesa"
},
"content": "I agree with the Mover that tourism is a very competitive sector. Many countries are competing with each other. If you go to Europe, you will realize that countries like Spain, Turkey and France are competing against each other. Here in Africa, we have got Tanzania and South Africa, not to mention Egypt. I think Egypt is the leader in terms of the number of tourists that visit the African continent. We are sorry to see what is happening in Morocco and in other areas. However, these are areas that have always competed with us. So, we must be alive to innovation. We must be able to attract this lucrative market of tourists. As I have said, we can only do that if we are innovative and wake up to the fact that we live in the 21st Century, where we expect to have good communication. The world is a global village now. We must develop our infrastructure in terms of roads and airports. Our hotels must be first class. The Mover has referred to the figures of hotels that we can call four or five star hotels. We have very few of them. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, Nairobi cannot hold a conference of more than 10,000 people, because we do not have enough beds in our hotels. So, there is need to improve, and I know that the able Minister has plans to do this. If you read through this Bill, you will see that there are issues that he has emphasized to ensure that we create an enabling environment for expansion of our tourism facilities. We must have enough money to develop our roads. I commend the Minister for Roads for doing a lot with the limited funds that he has. He has opened up roads towards Maasai Mara through Loitokitok. This is going to increase the number of tourists. We must make it possible for investors to come and put up big first class hotels. I know the Minister is thinking of putting up a conference facility within Nairobi, where we can house at least between 3,000 and 4,000 people. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I know you have been to Cancun. I had an opportunity to go to Cancun last year, and I was amazed. I never knew why big conferences are held in Mexico until I went there. I know the Chairman of this committee has probably been to Cancun. You just have to see Cancun to understand why conferences, like those of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the United Nations, that are attended by 10,000, are held there. They will always be accommodated in Cancun. It is a city and will always hold enough people. Even if you look at a country like Uganda, you will find that the Munyonyo Resort was built by the Government with a view of attracting conference. This is the route we have to go. We have to find ways and means of attracting tourists. These are very good examples. Even when hotels are built in Uganda, there is a policy that there must be enough beds in a given hotel. There are regulations that govern the building of such hotels and we must have the same. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker Sir, we must deal with insecurity. Here, we are talking about insecurity in general. Things like cattle rustling do not help the image of this country. We must be sure that when tourists come here, they are safe. Indeed, the Minister has been alive to this. He has created a tourist protection unit which will be assisted by sister institutions such as the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) and the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) personnel. These are all very important. Also, we must guard against degradation of the environment. We must look after our forests on hilltops. These are the forests on the Mau, Mt. Kenya, the Aberdares and Cherangany. These are what attracts tourists to come to Kenya. There are people who will come to this country just for mountain climbing or cyclists who want to cycle on our hills. There are people who come to view birds in Kakamega or Buyangu. There are natural resources in that area. There are birds that you can only see in the Kakamega Forest or in Buyangu. These are natural attributes that have been given to this country and we, as leaders, must do everything we can to ensure that we look after our natural heritage. On national parks, as the Minister has said, we have premier national parks where we have wildlife. We, in this sector, are making sure that we look after our wildlife so that people can come and see them and enjoy this natural heritage."
}