TOURISM INDUSTRY MARCHES AGAINST POACHING MENACE
(MCTA Chairman Mohammed Hersi, wearing a necktie on the left, leads the demonstration against poaching in Mombasa along Moi Avenue)
MCTA Chairman Mohammed Hersi, also Area General Manager Coast for Sarova Hotels in charge of the Whitesands Beach Resort and Spa and the two sister lodges of Taita Hills and Salt Lick, in recent days said more than enough in his tweets, when he expressed his outrage at the rate of poaching and the inadequate response by government to stop this menace.
Subsequently he organized a tourism protest march earlier today, starting under the world famous tusks which span over the Moi Avenue in the centre of Mombasa, expressing publicly what the tourism industry has been quietly whispering and not so loudly saying: ‘Enough is enough. Our message was clear No Wildlife=No Tourism=No Economy=No Vision 2030=No Jobs= Poverty . We must stand up and be counted and protect our national heritage. Our forefathers conserved the wildlife for us to see them so it is our duty to do the same.
The march was covered by Kenya’s key television and radio stations in live transmissions and has raised immediate responses from among key contestants for public office – Kenya is going to the polls on March 04th – when several of them pledged to make anti poaching measures part of their government agenda, should they be elected in a month’ time.
Those sampled for a reaction all applauded Hersi’s action and expressed their hope that the trade associations in Nairobi and perhaps other key towns across Kenya, which benefit from tourism, could stage similar public expressions of concern and demanding action from the outgoing government NOW, and not in a few months time when a new government may be coming into office.
Congratulations to Mohammed, a long time friend and never shy to call a spade a spade in the interest of the tourism industry. Well done!
