Tanzania to intervene in ban on tourist vehicles by Kenyan govt

Tourist vehicle drivers and conductors ponder at the  Kijenge bus stand in Arusha. PHOTO| Filibert RWEYEMAMU

Arusha. The government will next week intervene in a ban slapped on Tanzania’s tourist vehicles shuttling between here and Nairobi from accessing Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

Vehicle operators boycotted for hours here yesterday morning wait-ing for the government’s stance on the ban slapped on them on December 22, last year.

Natural Resources and Tourism minister Lazaro Nyalandu assured them that he would go to Nairobi along with their representatives to deliberate on the surprise ban with his Kenyan counterpart.

 “The government is also shocked by the Kenya’s decision because airports are not part of the agreements involving the two sister countries,” he said.

Mr Nyalandu admitted that Tanzania had in the 1985 agreement with the neighbouring country banned Kenyan tourist vehicles from accessing its national parks, the move he said aimed at empowering local tour operators.

 “The Kenya’s ban implies that the JKIA has turned into a tourist attraction instead of an entry point,” wondered Mr Nyalandu, lamenting that the decision was unnecessarily adding cost on the Tanzanian tour operators.

But analysts believe the ban might be the Kenya’s attempt to retaliate on Tanzania’s decision to close the Bolongoja border between its Serengeti National Park and Maasai Mara Game Reserve of Kenya mid-1970s.

The border is a convenient route for tourists yearning for visiting the Serengeti-Masai Mara ecosystem from the northern neighbouring county. Mr Moses King’ori, the managing director of Riverside Safaris, one of the tour firms affected by the ban, briefed the minister that the vans from Arusha had to drop or pick passengers some kilometres away.

“This has resulted in a lot of inconveniences to us and our clients,” lamented Mr King’ori, explaining that they were incurring additional costs of hiring vehicles to ferry visitors from a junction on the Arusha-Nairobi highway to the airport.

“This has put my clients at risks of being robbed or knocked down by vehicles as there is no designated bus terminal there,” complained Mr King’ori, insisting that he and his colleagues were still waiting for a solution to the crisis from the government.

“The move is not healthy for the EAC partner states,” lamented tour operator Andrew Malalika. Mr Moses Nswila, the director of Friends of East Africa, a lobby group based here, outrightly condemned the ban, saying it was against the economic integration of the region. Mr Nyalandu believed an individual official had issued the ban order.

Source: The Citizen