Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua has revealed that he has scheduled a meeting with Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Commissioner General Humphrey Watanga.
In an update via X on Thursday, November 2 Mutua said he had a phone call discussion with Wattanga and sought to have a discussion on growing the tourism and travel industry.
“I have this morning had a telephone conversation and scheduled a meeting with Mr. Humphrey Wattanga, the Commissioner General of Kenya Revenue Authority, to discuss how we can work together to grow the tourism and travel industry. Mbele iko Sawa,” said Mutua.
This comes days after the Tourism CS lectured KRA officers for chasing away tourists over what he described as harassment.
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Mutua explained that tourists are treated harshly by KRA officers on arrival in the country, which he said discourages them from coming back to Kenya.
"When a tourist come, amebeba camera mbili, amebeba viatu, anataka kukuja shopping akifika pale anaambiwa na KRA afungue mfuko yake. Underwear yake inashikwa na kalamu inawekwa kando. Wanatafuta sijui camera mbili, sijui kiatu, sijui hii perfume umeletea nani hapa," Mutua said.
He added, "We harass our visitors when they come to this country at the airport and we wonder why they don't come back."
CS Mutua compared Kenya to Rwanda and South Africa, noting that the two countries don't put their tourists through screening processes.
He vowed to ensure that the mess does not happen again so that Kenya's tourism is back on top.
"We will ask them whether we close down the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife to focus on other things. But if they want us to collect money and this country becomes rich then they should stop harassing our product,” Mutua stated.