Balala hospitalised after breathing problems

Tourism minister Najib Balala was this evening rushed to Nairobi hospital after he collapsed in his office following breathing complications. According to a doctor at the hospital who did not want to be named, the minister underwent a minor surgery earlier this evening. The surgery was necessitated by a condition doctors call hypertrophied turbinates. This is a condition that is causes by an enlargement of the small structures within the nose that cleanse and humidify air as it passes through your nostrils into the lungs. The doctors say the operation was successful.

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Tourism Minister Najib Balala fell sick and was rushed to hospital suffering nasal problems.

The minister’s aides said he was at his office Monday, when he fell ill and asked to be taken to hospital.

Mr Balala was taken to theatre for a minor surgery on his nose, according to sources.

He was admitted to the Nairobi Hospital’s St John’s wing, where doctors attended to him.


Tourism Minister Najib Balala

He becomes the second VIP to be admitted to the hospital in recent times after Prime Minister Raila Odinga was taken ill and had a surgery on his head.

Raila is still recuperating and doctors have advised him to undertake light duty. Balala, one of the youthful ODM ministers, is the MP for Mvita.

He was first elected to Parliament in 2002. He was appointed Tourism Minister on April 14, 2008 after the signing of the National Accord, which formed the Grand Coalition.

Earlier, he had served as Heritage Minister and as Sports Minister.

An enthusiastic politician, Balala grabbed headlines in his docket when he was elected Africa’s Tourism Minister of the Year last year. He plucked the top honours after beating seven of his counterparts in the continent, who had been shortlisted for the award presented at the Africa Tourism Investors Summit and Award Gala at the Joachim Chissano Conference Centre in Maputo, Mozambique.

Mombasa mayor

Balala’s political career started as the Mombasa mayor, where he is credited with steering the coastal town to great heights.

His popularity helped him clinch the Mvita parliamentary seat in the 2002 General Election.

Balala has served as Vice-Chairman Kenya Tourism Board, Local Government Association of Kenya, Chairman and Mombasa and Coast Tourist Association Chairman.