Government blames lack of coordination on attack of Mombasa tourists
He asserted that the ministry is working on ensuring the safety of people visiting the coast and that such incidents shall not occur in the future.
Lack of coordination between the department in charge of tourism and the police unit in charge of tourists in the Coast region led to the robbing of a tourist along Moi Avenue around the Pembe ya Ndovu area.
Speaking at the start of his three-day tour of the region, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen refuted claims that the attack was by the condemned Panga boys gang as he affirmed that it was a normal petty thieves robbing and investigations are on to bring the perpetrators to book.
Murkomen, however, stated that he could not deny the fact that a tourist was attacked and robbed of his phone.
“There was a misreporting that members of the Panga gang attacked a group of tourists, leading to them canceling their visit to Mombasa. I want to clarify that it was only one tourist who was attacked and not by a gang, but by a group of thugs who attacked and robbed one male tourist of his phone. I cannot deny that,” he stated.
He asserted that the ministry is working on ensuring the safety of people visiting the coast and that such incidents shall not occur in the future.
“There was a mistake in coordination between the police unit in charge of tourists and the department of tourism. It’s a false alarm that they were attacked by the Panga gang boys. It was a case of pickpockets in the city, but I want to assure you that we do not want such incidents in the future,” he added.
According to Murkomen, the sensational reporting by a section of the media is likely to scare tourists.
He said investigations are on, and the Coast regional police boss would make an update on the investigations done so far.
“It is a few people who reported it sensationally to scare tourists, but it was not a sensational matter. Investigations are ongoing as suspects are not yet arrested, but the Coast regional Commander will be making a brief on the update of the case,” Murkomen stated.
The remarks by Murkomen come after 66-year-old British national Christopher Stafford Welch was injured on the elbow and forehead after a group of thugs attacked and robbed him of his 15 promax phone valued at 900 US dollars.
Christopher was in the company of his fellow tourists when the incident occurred along Moi Avenue at the Pembe za Ndovu a landmark tourist Centre in Mombasa County.
