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Music maestro Ben Decca stranded at JKIA over visa hitch


Music star Ben Decca was stranded at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) for over an hour on Thursday evening over a visa hitch.

The West African music icon, popularly known for his Afed Makosa hit songis in the country on the invitation of the Cameroonians residing in Kenya.

The musician told journalists that he was denied a visa at the airport because “Cameroon does not have an embassy in the Kenya.”

The Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) communications chief Dominic Ngige declined to comment on the incident.

During the hour-long wait, the musician had threatened to return to his home country.

“I had asked them to put me on the next flight after I was kept seated from one bench to another; I am so annoyed and yet this is an African country,”said Mr Decca at a media briefing.

He said that he had carried all the necessary travel documents and could not understand why Kenyan immigration officials insisted on verifying his documents before clearing him.

This is his first visit to Kenya.

He vowed to initiate talks to initiate diplomatic ties between Kenya and Cameroon.

“I think that should not be happening in this modern world. I will have to talk to our Foreign Minister so that these two countries can find ways of solving these issues,” he said.

Cameroon has no embassy in the entire east Africa region

Mr Cedric Penda, the leader of the Cameroon Diaspora team, said that Cameroonians living in Kenya find it hard to do business in Kenya and endure long procedures to travel or invite someone to Kenya.

“We are not getting a three months Visa yet some of us have stayed here for over 15 years,” he said.

The musician is scheduled to perform at Utalii House on Friday evening before leaving for a show in Germany.

He is also expected to meet some Kenyan musicians on Saturday.