The County Secretary Peter Eripete, has today presided over the handing over of the Department of Tourism, Culture, Natural Resources and Climate Change from Dr Francis Mariao to the incoming CECM Elizabeth Loote.

Following last week’s reshuffle of CECMs, Dr. Mariao was moved to the Health Department while CECM Loote was transferred to Tourism from Trade, Enterprise, Cooperative, Gender and Youth Affairs.

The immediate outgoing CECM advised CECM Loote to take a keen interest in building strong partnerships with partners working closely with the Department.

Regarding policy and legal frameworks, CECM Mariao said, the completion of policy documents, strategic plans, and MoUs needs to be prioritized, to drive the Department forward.

CECM Loote while taking over the Department, promised to work with all the staff to realize what is expected of them.

During the ceremony, the areas of interest included; the management of Ekalees Cultural Centre, visibility and marketing of tourism attraction sites, value addition of cultural artifacts, provision of resource maps, and completion of Eco-lodges.

CS Eripete called on the staff to embrace the new leadership and continue discharging their duties as before.

Those present during the brief ceremony were Triza Amoni (Chief Officer, Tourism, Culture, and Heritage), Directors; George Emase (Climate Change), Benedict Mukoo (Tourism) Sammy Karoi (Administration), and other staff members.