Here is a significant piece of news about how certain situations in Kenya are changing and how, in addition to always being careful, during certain 'encounters' a foreign tourist should always have the courage to denounce attempts at extortion, even if they come from representatives of the institutions.
Last Saturday in Bamburi, one of the beaches most frequented by tourists in the vicinity of Mombasa, a German citizen, Werner Bance, was approached in a bar by a girl who politely asked him if he could buy her something to eat.
In order to convince the tourist, the woman started to make some very rough advances, according to Bance himself and the Daily Nation newspaper.
At this point the German told her that he was already engaged to a Kenyan woman and gave the girl 100 shillings for lunch, asking her to leave him alone. At this point the woman, who had probably already agreed, refused the amount, left and showed up a few minutes later with two tourist police officers.
The two policemen, a man and a woman, allegedly threatened the foreigner with the prospect of imprisoning him on serious charges and having him sentenced to seven years' imprisonment, and took away his telephone for intimidation purposes.
At this point, the two men demanded 1,500 euro to settle the matter 'amicably' and ordered the foreigner to pay as soon as possible.
The tourist then asked to go back to the hotel to withdraw all the cash he had and returned with 800 euro, demanding the return of the phone.
As soon as he had paid, Bance went to the Bamburi police station to report the incident, describing the two policemen and giving a detailed account of what had happened.
The tourist officers stationed in Bamburi were immediately summoned and the German recognised the two who, after being interrogated, were immediately remanded in custody pending their appearance before a judge for extortion.
The criminals also returned the misappropriated money.