Africa-Press – Kenya. The Nakuru Governor Lee Kinyanjui has said that the county is working on increasing security in the hospitality industry following its elevation to a city.
In a statement on Thursday, Kinyanjui said this is because they expect the number of domestic tourists visiting Nakuru to double up in the next five years due to their new status.
“We anticipate a significant increase of visitors to Nakuru as a result of it being elevated to a city,” he said.
The governor emphasised that they plan on making the city a friendly and safe destination for all visitors.
He noted that the County Government of Nakuru is working with the hospitality industry players to ensure the set security standards are complied with.
“In particular, club and bars owners will be expected to install security systems that will ensure the safety and security of their patrons” Kinyanjui said.
Kinyanjui said that the county will have a dedicated surveillance team to ensure all night patrols in places where the visitors will frequent.
The governor stated that a raft of new measures will jointly be prepared with the hospitality and entertainment stakeholders to help guide the sector accordingly.
“We shall use technology, information sharing and intelligence to enhance our security preparedness.”
The enhanced security measures come a few weeks after Nakuru was awarded city status by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
On December 1, President Uhuru conferred the city status to the Nakuru Municipality as he signed the citation as the flag of Nakuru was unveiled.
Nakuru became the fourth after Nairobi, Kisumu and Mombasa cities.
The President delivered the charter after almost five months of waiting from the time Senate approved the conferment of city status to Nakuru municipality.
The Urban Areas and Cities Act seeks to give effect to Article 184 of the Constitution which provides for classification, governance and management of urban areas and cities.
Before classification as a city, urban areas must have infrastructural facilities like roads, street lighting, markets, fire stations, waste disposal and disaster management capacity.
The Act indicates that they must also have integrated development plans and demonstrate capacity to generate sufficient revenue to sustain operations.
Edited by B. Oruta
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