BALALA MAKES COMEBACK IN TOURISM AS LONG OVERDUE CABINET RESHUFFLE FINALLY TAKES PLACE
(Posted 24th November 2015)
Kenya’s long awaited – many say a year overdue – cabinet reshuffle finally took place this afternoon and one of the most significant changes is the return of Najib Balala from the mining portfolio to the tourism portfolio.
When the government of President Kenyatta was formed there was widespread expectation that Balala would be handed tourism but instead he was put into mining to the bewilderment of the industry. This provided an immediate cause for protests and often harsh critique when former Tourism Cabinet Secretary Phyllis Kandie faced a mounting hurdle race while the sector dramatically contracted with arrivals and revenues dropping nearly month after month and year after year.
Social media reactions since the change was announced speak a clear language and give a unanimous verdict that Balala’s return was wildly celebrated while few if any words were seen about the departure of Phyllis Kandie who was shifted to the Labour ministry.
Balala was the arguably most successful tourism minister Kenya ever had, serving between 2008 to 2012, and under his leadership did the industry reach new record revenue and arrival levels. Balala then was sacked by his party boss, one Raila Odinga, after he challenged him to be more democratic and less dictatorial and his successor in office at the then coalition government presided over the start of the downturn when he stubbornly refused to listen to the sector and institute early marketing countermeasures ahead of the last elections. With declining budgets and a continued refusal by the present government to embark on a global recovery marketing blitz and other recovery measures, while the writing was in capital letters on the wall, did little happen until the start of this financial year, when resource allocation for tourism was massively raised. At that stage had dissent among the tourism industry with the present government grown, tens of thousands of workers had lost their jobs and disillusionment with the government had spread like a cancer, eating deep into their support base.
Kandie was repeatedly blamed for not asserting herself enough in cabinet for the sector, but saddled with added portfolios like East African Affairs and Commerce was there simply not the attention possible for a sector which for long was Kenya’s economic backbone.
Broad consensus among Kenyan private sector stakeholder though is that the industry was, besides the security challenges the country faced, being messed up by ill-considered tax increases, lack of attention and timely response to private sector concerns, rash and harsh anti travel advisories and most of all failure to acknowledge that there was a problem for too long, with ministerial speeches often being described as coming from another planet, far from reality on the ground.
Expectations are high for Balala to turn the sector’s fortunes around again, stand up in cabinet for tourism and ensure that resource allocation does not remain on paper but translates into funds actually remitted to the Kenya Tourism Board and other bodies tasked with the promotion of tourism at home, in the region, the continent and overseas.
With barely two years left before the next elections will it be Balala’s task, to hand in hand with the private sector rebuild the tourism industry and in particular find solutions for the Kenya coast where the downturn was the longest and steepest ever seen over the past fourty odd years.
Former Tourism Secretary Phyllis Kandie is thanked for trying while holding the portfolio but for Najib Balala it is a rousing ‘welcome back’ as he will move into his old offices seeking to put the shine back on the industry.
