A fresh start for TZ, Kenya relations

Dar es Salaam.For nearly a year, ordinary Tanzanians and Kenyans found themselves glaring at each other in a gulf of uncertainty as Presidents John Magufuli and Uhuru Kenyatta kept everyone guessing on how their two nations would relate.

But there was a sigh of relief when President Magufuli announced at the weekend that he would finally embark on the much-awaited trip to Nairobi for a two-day state visit.

And after holding closed-door talks with his host at State House in the Kenyan capital, Dr Magufuli dismissed rumours and suspicions that relations between the two nations were bitter at best.

Expectedly, the Tanzanian leader had to press the diplomatic button and directly address the hot issue following months of speculation fuelled by his near year-long delay to visit Nairobi.

Because of the long history between the two nations, proximity and the fact that Kenya is the largest African investor in Tanzania, many had expected President Magufuli to launch his diplomatic journey in Nairobi.

His decision to visit Rwanda and Uganda ahead of Kenya sent tongues wagging, but on Monday the President dismissed the fears revealing that he had been always in touch with his colleague all this while.

“We call each other on many issues, but because these phone calls don’t get seen in public, some people don’t know,” he said at a joint press conference.

“Our relations go back a long way, not just because we were both colonised by the British but because out nationals are also related. We are like siblings,” he argued. He said his visit was “to cement the good relations between Tanzania and Kenya”.

But even in that declaration, Dr Magufuli, whose reign has been punctuated with a purge on corruption, remained guarded in his speech all through, choosing instead to describe his domestic policy.

He talked about the corruption war in Tanzania, hinting at the possibility that his decision to avoid foreign travels in his first year was to allow him to do housekeeping first.

“I have explained the reality in Tanzania that we are developing. We are working towards ensuring our country moves forward. We want Tanzanians to pay taxes, we are striving to defeat corruption, and we are working hard to ensure Tanzanians and Tanzania develop,” he argued.

“I believe that if we go with this pace, we can reach at a level where we can say we are taking the country to a better place. We have a lot to learn from each other, between Kenya and Tanzania.”

On Monday, he dismissed the suspicions, first arguing that Tanzania considered Kenya as “our number one partner” then revealing he is always in touch with President Kenyatta by telephone.

The President and his colleague also avoided speaking on hot button issues that have recently strained ties between the neighbours.

They also steered clear of addressing the oil pipeline issue, the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPAs) and work permits for Kenyans operating in Tanzania.

A series of high-profile incidents have strained ties between the countries since Dr Magufuli came to power last year.

The most remarkable was his absence at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development held in Nairobi which attracted heads of state and government from across the continent.

In July, Tanzania said it will not sign the Economic Partnership Agreement between the East African Community and the European Union, a landmark deal aimed at giving regional states, as a bloc, duty-free and quota-free market access into the EU.

In 2015, the two countries were involved in a trade row following a ban on Kenyan tour vans from accessing Tanzanian parks. Kenya reciprocated by barring Dar buses from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

Much recently, Tanzania has given a regional initiative meant to facilitate access to all member states using a uni-visa a wide berth.

It has also refused to open up her border at the Mara River to allow movement of tourists flocking the region for the historic wildebeest migration.

There was also the potentially explosive issue of the government’s clampdown on illegal immigrants soon after Dr Magufuli was sworn in -- Kenyan nationals in Tanzania accused immigration officials of targetting and victimising them.

And in May, Tanzanian authorities confiscated the passports of Kenyan officials who were in Tanga with a team of Ugandan officials working on an analysis of proposed routes for a multi-billion-dollar crude oil pipeline, denying them access to the port in an embarrassing diplomatic incident.

The Ugandans eventually decided to build its crude export pipeline through Tanzania instead of Kenya.

President Magufuli, however, acknowlegded that Kenya played significant role in the Tanzanian economy, noting that 529 Kenyan firms operate in the country, employing 56,260 people and their collective investments valued at $1.7 billion.

Business opportunities

In addition, Dr Magufuli welcomed Kenyans to invest in Tanzania, citing numerous business opportunities.

He also directed the Tanzanian and Kenyan foreign ministers to form a joint commission to chart the way forward on future bilateral relations.

First signed in 1988 between then Presidents Ali Hassan Mwinyi and Daniel Moi, the two countries had largely ignored following up on creating systems that would improve trade between them.

Now, the joint ministerial team, spearheaded by Foreign Affairs minister Augustine Mahiga and his Kenya’s Foreign Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed, is expected to meet in Tanzania before year end.

Mr Magufuli and his host Mr Kenyatta, however, did not share details of the upcoming talks.

In 2009, Kenya’s then Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka and his Tanzanian counterpart Ali Zhein had vowed to revive it. They did not.

But the two countries also agreed to co-operate on security issues and expedite link roads such as the Bagamoyo-Malindi highway, which is one of the roads spearheaded by the East African Community (EAC) to boost cross-border trade.

The Bagamoyo-Malindi highway has been on the cards since 2014, when negotiations between the two countries with the African Development Bank (AfDB)began.

But the road, which is 680km long and meant to improve connectivity between the two countries, was hampered by Tanzania’s reluctance to compensate protesting communities that have to be relocated.

Kenyan expectations

Ahead of the landmark visit, the Kenyan business community made known its wish list for Dr Magufuli even as experts warned of a full in-tray of issues that the Tanzania leader and his host President Uhuru Kenyatta must tackle together for the visit to be to be meaningful.

“I am hoping this visit might prove an opportunity to reset relations and seek better alignment between our two countries. There is so much to be gained from being collaborative rather than adversarial -- President Kenyatta has a ‘Bill Clinton charm’ and if I were advising him I would say ‘look, reach in, cut through the noise and start telling the Bulldozer that it needn’t be a zero sum game,” economic analyst and chief executive of Rich Management Aly-Khan Satchu told Daily Nation.

Reset relations

“Our relationship with our neighbour has been sub-optimal for a very long time. There is an opportunity here to reset relations - I hope we can seize it.” Mr Satchu said that President Magufuli has captured the East African imagination with his no-nonsense and populist style.

“He has some serious feathers in his cap already (the pipeline and the railway are two very big “geopolitical” wins right there) so we need to treat him as a worthy and already proven adversary,” said Mr Satchu.

Echoing similar sentiments, International Relations expert Prof Macharia Munene says the visit is a great opportunity to strengthen relations between Kenya and Tanzania.