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Commissioner Lotiatia says demonstrators will scare away tourists

Narok County Commissioner Kipkech Lotiatia has warned demonstrators that their actions could easily scare away foreign tourists who flock the Maasai Mara National Reserve.

Lotiatia noted that the county gets a high percentage of its local revenue from the National reserve and the current unrest being witnessed in Narok Town could scare them away.

He observed that the months of June to August are the high seasonal months when thousands of tourists from all parts of the world come to glaze the spectaculars’ wildebeests crossing from Serengeti National Park in Tanzania to the Maasai Mara National reserve in Kenya.

“Many development projects in this county are done by the local revenue generated from the National reserve. If we scare tourists, they will cancel their bookings and prefer visiting the Serengeti on the Tanzanian side,” he said.

Lotiatia spoke on Thursday at his office after holding a security meeting where he warned the youths against being incited to destroy their country.

Earlier on Thursday, a section of youths attempted to barricade the Maai Mahiu-Narok- Bomet highway but were quickly dispersed by police officers who included the Rapid Deployment Unit (RDU).

The police had to use tear gas and rubber bullets to shoot in the air to scare away the youths who kept regrouping after being dispersed.

During Tuesday’s demonstrations, the youngsters broke into a shoe shop adjacent to Quick Mart supermarket and looted all the stock in the shop.

One died and several people among them police officers were left nursing injuries during the Tuesday demonstrations.

The demonstrators have also paralyzed businesses in Narok town as many business people were forced to close their doors in fear of their premises being looted.

Narok county generates over Sh. 4 billion annually as revenue from the World Famous game reserve, which is mostly collected from the foreign visitors.

 

 

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