13/12/2025
Accessible Travel Kenya Statement on Jamhuri Day Commitments
As Accessible Travel Kenya, we welcome the President’s Jamhuri Day commitment to modernise Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, other airports, and the ports of Mombasa and Lamu to enhance connectivity and ease the movement of people, goods, and services.
We strongly urge that this modernisation be inclusive by design. All new and upgraded infrastructure must be built to Universal Design standards, ensuring accessibility for persons with disabilities, older persons, families with young children, and travellers with temporary mobility challenges.
This means step-free access, accessible washrooms, clear wayfinding, tactile and audible signage, accessible transport interfaces, trained staff, and seamless end-to-end journeys across airports and ports. Accessibility should not be an afterthought or a retrofit—it must be integrated from planning and procurement through construction and operations, including within Public–Private Partnership frameworks.
Inclusive infrastructure is not only a rights issue; it is smart economics. Accessible, universally designed transport hubs improve efficiency, safety, user experience, and Kenya’s competitiveness as a global tourism and logistics hub.
As Kenya marks Jamhuri, we call on government agencies, private partners, and regulators to ensure that modernisation delivers freedom of movement for all—leaving no one behind.
