US, Australia withdraw aid workers over security

American and Australian volunteers are withdrawing from Kenya due to deteriorating insecurity that has taken a toll on tourism.

A statement from the US State Department said the decision to pull out about 70 Peace Corps volunteers was made on June 30, “based on the overall security picture.”
Kenya has been attacked by the Somali terrorist group Al-Shabaab since its incursion in the strife-torn country in 2011.

Hundreds of people have been killed in the attacks that have targeted churches, public service vehicles and at the Westgate shopping mall in Westlands, Nairobi.
Insecurity has deteriorated at the Coast where more than 100 people have been killed in the last one month in Lamu, Tana River and Mombasa counties.

The decision by the Americans and Australians is likely to adversely affect education, health and environment projects run by the volunteers in rural communities across the country.
The Australian High Commission in Nairobi said that it was withdrawing its nationals from various volunteer programmes for “safety” reasons.

“Australia has made the difficult decision to withdraw the Australian Volunteers for International Development (Avid) Programme from Kenya by June 30, 2015.

“The assignments of the 39 volunteers will be phased out over the next 12 months,” said Leisa Gibson, the First Secretary for Development Cooperation.
The Australian volunteers working on aid projects in Nairobi and Mombasa are to leave Kenya by August 17.

Some staff may be deployed to safer regions while others will return to Australia or be redeployed to neighbouring countries.

Head of the International Programme at the Australian Red Cross Peter Walton wrote to volunteers saying: “It is with great regret … that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has made the difficult decision to withdraw the Australian Volunteers for International Development (Avid) programme from Kenya.

Raft of measures
The move by the two governments is the latest in a raft of measures taken by Western nations that are adversely affecting Kenya’s economy.

The US Government recently increased the number of security personnel at its embassy and stationed armed marines behind sandbag bunkers on the roof. The State Department also reduced the number of US personnel based in Kenya by moving a regional USAid office out of the country.

Earlier this year, several Western countries issued travel advisories warning their nationals against visiting certain parts of Kenya considered unsafe. This resulted in massive tourist cancellations.
The US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has designated Kenya as a “high risk” sky for American civilian aircraft.

The insecurity, particularly at the Coast, has also seen several international conferences cancelled at the last minute.
In May, a conference organised by Inclusion International (II) and the Kenyan Association for the Intellectually Handicapped, which was to be held in Nairobi was called off following a spate of terrorist attacks that month.

Others organised by USAid as well as the International Aids Vaccine Initiative were cancelled. The two conferences were to take place in Mombasa. The World Bank also followed suit over similar concerns.
Two test rugby matches between Kenya and Portugal scheduled for June failed to take place because of the travel advisories.

Last month, the organisers of the Africa Hotel Investment Forum moved a planned meeting from Nairobi to Addis Ababa over what they called “limited space.” The meeting is scheduled for October. 

The only major international conferences which have been held in the country despite the security concerns are the United Nations Environmental Assembly (Unea) and the International Conference on Great Lakes Region (ICGLR).

The Kenya Tourist Board (KTB) said tourist bookings dropped by 17,000 this year, compared to the same period in 2013.

Major markets

“The number of tourists has gone down drastically after the travel bans issued by some of the major markets such as the United Kingdom and the US,” KTB managing director Mureithi Ndegwa said Friday.

He said the government had put in place a major recovery programme to mitigate the dwindling fortunes.

They include a Sh700 million kitty to aid the recovery of the tourism sector. The government has also reduced park fees for domestic tourists by about Sh200 while air ticket processing has been exempted from the VAT.

The State has lifted the ban on the public service holding seminars and conferences in private hotels, he said.
The government has been faulted over a reactionary approach to the insecurity problem.

“The government must be proactive. We need an overhaul of the security apparatus.

“The team that we left in 2002 is still intact. We need fresh ideas and new energy,” said former Internal Security permanent secretary and current Kuresoi South MP Zakayo Cheruiyot.
Security expert George Musamali accused the government of paying lip service to the fight against insecurity.

“The government is assuring us every day that things are alright, but they are not. Things are getting out of hand.

“The question we should ask is whether other countries have shared intelligence with our agencies and what our security organs have done with it,” said Mr Musamali, a director at the Centre for Risk Management in Africa.

“We are running around in circles. But there are obvious signs we are not doing the right thing. It has been said by many people that you can’t win any war on crime without proper intelligence. Involving the public is critical.”

The chairman of Coast Tourist Association, Mr Mohammed Hersi, said the State needed to do a lot more.

Mr Hersi Friday told the Saturday Nation that the government interventions had partly helped in sustaining the industry, but it needed to double efforts.

“State intervention has led to a lot of domestic inquiries. More people are coming in to attend conferences especially during weekends.

“It is a bit slower during weekdays…under the circumstances, but this has helped us. This is what is mainly sustaining us,” he said.

Additional reporting by Kevin J Kelley