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ALL IS NOT WELL AT KENYA PAVILION

The Kenyan Friendship Society which represents the Kenyan community in the UAE is upset with the mismanagement of the Kenya Pavilion in the Global Village, being currently handled by the Kenya Embassy.

They complained that a number of issues were not yet resolved and the participants at the pavilion are facing many problems such as customs, port and airport clearance, storage facilities, transport and accommodation. They claim the organisers should have facilitated all these arrangements and the Kenyan government should do more to assist them with these facilities.

“The major drawback is the cost of living in Dubai which has doubled, and to manage services for 129 days at the village will be difficult if exhibitors do not record good sales,” according to a participant at the Pavilion.

Speaking to City Times, Kenneth Vitisia, Deputy Head of the Kenya Embassy, defending the present organisers, said the Global Village has become too commercialised this year with an entry fee imposed. “As a result, space rental has doubled and the Global Village organisers are also charging a fee for media coverage. These expenses are going beyond our control and it may even lead to the Kenya Pavilion pulling out of the Global Village since the concept is drifting away from its focus — melting pot of cultures and traditions of different countries and entertainment.”

Vitisia pointed out that the embassy had decided to take part in the Dubai Shopping Festival this year through the Kenya Pavilion in the Global Village to showcase Kenyan culture to the world. The embassy is the only authorised institution to organise such a pavilion on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce in Nairobi.

“The Kenya Pavilion was organised and managed by a private company over the last five years, which is not authorised to represent Kenyan culture,” he stressed.

Speaking to City Times, Jalal Al Balala, Chairman of the Kenyan Friendship Society said, since the year 2000, the Kenyan Friendship Society and Kenyan expatriates in the UAE have been active at the Global Village during the Dubai Shopping Festival and that they had invested heavily in their first fully-pledged pavilion in the year 2002.

Since then, the Kenya Pavilion became a household name through the fascinating diversity of its unique products of wood carvings, curios, art and craft, leather products, exotic furniture and the famous tea and coffee, which, Balala says, sell quite well.