MCAs drum public support for Embu Tourism Bill


Embu County plans to open a new route to the Mt. Kenya peaks in a bid to tap into the unexploited tourist attraction sites thus boosting local revenue earnings.
The County Assembly Trade, Tourism, Investment and Industrialisation committee is in the process of rolling out an ambitious tourism master plan that is aimed at putting Embu in the map of major Kenyan tourist destinations.
The committee’s vice chairman Nathan Mwari observed that the Embu trail to the peak of Mt. Kenya through Irangi forest was shorter and more scenic than any other in the region.
He said this informed the county’s concerted efforts to open the circuit for both local and foreign tourists.
Speaking during public participation forums on the Embu County Tourism Bill at Siakago and Kiritiri towns, the Nthawa MCA said the county would also be improving infrastructure at the Mwea Game Reserve to ease accessibility for visitors and in turn enable the County Government collect revenue in terms of gate fees.
He added that Embu was at a position to compete with Nairobi and Narok counties which host the Nairobi and Maasai Mara national parks, but the county had not made efforts to commercialise the Mwea Game reserve to tap revenue from the national tourism earnings.
“The county plans to engage investors from the hospitality industry to set up cottages at heritage sites and scenic attractions like the Kianjiru Hill where the tourism department intends to establish a planetarium and around the Seven Forks hydroelectric dam reservoirs,” he said.
Minority Leader Lenny Masters Mwaniki however said there was need to balance development in the county to ensure that the Mbeere region also benefits from tourism oriented projects.
Mavuria MCA Ngari Mbaka challenged locals to boost tourism in the county by touring attraction sites and not entirely relying on foreigners to bring income through the sector.
The MCAs unanimously stated that tourism enthusiasts from Embu County need not spend money visiting other counties to view wildlife or climb mountains when the same tourism attractions were available in their home county.
They said the Tourism Bill, if enacted, would provide the legal framework for the county to improve the sector by pumping funds and establishing management organs to run the affairs of tourism in the county.

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