Roads, Transport and Public Works Cabinet Secretary(CS) Kipchumba Murkomen has issued a counter statement following a report by Dutch Airline KLM purporting ‘civil unrest’ in the country.
On their official page, KLM had indicated that there is civil unrest in Kenya and Tanzania before deleting the label on Kenya and editing it to ‘local threat’ for Tanzania.
In a press statement, Murkomen dismissed the allegations noting that Kenya is and will continue to be peaceful, hospitable and welcoming.
“I have spoken to Dutch Airline KLM’s Country Representative to Kenya about a false claim posted on their social media on the purported civil unrest in Kenya. I have officially registered my protest with the airline against this unfounded, false, insensitive and misleading information that paints Kenya in a bad light,” Murkomen stated.
While questioning the credibility of the information, Murkomen regrets that it has tainted the country’s image.
Adding; “Kenya and the Netherlands enjoy very good diplomatic relations and KLM as a company is highly regarded in the country. We are therefore shocked that the airline would spread such fabricated, malicious and false allegations without fact-checking and considering the probable effects on our country’s image and economy.”
He said, although the information has been pulled down from KLM’s social media pages, a discussion will escalate through diplomatic channels to prevent such occurrences in future.
“Whereas this post has been pulled down from KLM’s social media pages, we will escalate the discussion through diplomatic channels to ensure the same does not recur. Kenya is and will continue to be a peaceful, hospitable and welcoming country and a regional hub for trade, investment and tourism,” the statement further reads.
So @KLM where’s this “civil unrest” in Kenya & Tanzania you speak of?
— Larry Madowo (@LarryMadowo) January 28, 2023
They quietly removed Kenya since I last checked pic.twitter.com/H0CMtHBxNg
