Mazera Ndurya
9 November 2009
Nairobi — The global economic recession and heavy rains that cut off a section of the road connecting Mombasa and Lamu has made organisers of this years' Lamu Cultural festival worried about the success of the annual event.
Although they are upbeat about the event which kicks off next week, the chairman of the Lamu cultural promotion Group, which organises the festival that showcases the rich cultural heritage spanning hundreds of years, Ghalib Alwy said some sponsors have pulled out while the remaining have cut down on their sponsorship.
"The global economic recession has hit us as well because our budget for the event which is normally funded by foreign embassies and other donors is less than we expected.
"This year we estimated to spend Sh4million but the budget is less by about Sh1.7million which means we will be forced to scale down on some of the activities," Mr Alwy said.
According to Mr Alwy those that might be affected include the now very popular big dhow race which also attracts huge prizes for the winners.
Last year, the chairman in his speech complained over donor fatigue and called on local people to own the event by sponsoring some activities to ensure continuity as the international community had become accustomed to the festival.
The US embassy has been the biggest supporter of the event since its inception nine years ago. Other major sponsors are the French, German and Moroccan embassies and several local companies and hotels.
But Mr Alwy said the event will go on as planned but fresh fears have now emerged over the number of visitors following the destruction of a section of the road at Kanagoni as a result of heavy rains.
Work on repairing the bridge by the ministry of roads is yet to start raising anxiety that if the section is not fixed in time many people will not be able to attend the festival as fewer vehicles will manage to pass across the damaged section.
The festival attracts more than 30, 000 people every year majority of who are from outside the district while some are from as far as Tanzania and Zanzibar.
Mr Alwy said the state of the road has always been an issue with Lamu people and after several complaints and appeals to the government nothing has been done to improve the road network.
"It means the business community in Lamu which has been benefiting greatly from the event due to the number of people and if the turn out is low it means business will also be affected," he said.
Hoteliers have started complaining about the number of visitors since the bridge was cut off about two weeks ago.
The general manager of Sunsail hotel Ali Bunu said most of the local and international tourists who visit Lamu use the road because whereas very few can afford air transport there is only one airline that operates the Lamu route.
"Most of the tourists use buses and vans from Mombasa and Malindi but they have been scared by the condition of the road as they have to wade through muddy water to connect to Lamu.
"We are calling on the government to speed up the repair of the road because even prices of foodstuffs have gone up because the supply link between Lamu and Mombasa has been cut off," Mr Bunu told the Nation by phone.
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