Why Magufuli’s Kenya visit left memories that will last

Nairobi. Kenyans in their hundreds gazed and got amazed on come face to face with—or they say, seeing live—the man they had only heard on radio or seen on TV and admired for his determined fight against corruption demon that is eating their country’s national coffers like armyworms let loose on a green farm.

For one, before he was elected Tanzania’s President last year, Mr John Pombe Magufuli had not attracted the attention of a large number of Kenyan politicians and ordinary citizens despite having been in the Cabinet for some 20 years.

Even as a long-time friend of the Kenya’s opposition leader Raila Odinga, the media in that country took him lightly and few analysts in Kenya, like it were in Tanzania, couldn’t have foreseen him as the winner of the presidential race in 2015.

But when the Tanzanian leader jetted into Nairobi last week, the Kenyan’s were upbeat, some going to an extent of praying that he had come with a magic wand for his host President Uhuru Kenyatta to fight endemic corruption there.

The official visit—the first to the neighbouring country since his election as the Union president last October—came at a time the Jubilee government is grappling with two major corruption scandals; one involving the ministry of Health and the other revolving around former Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru.

The latter case appear to dominate public debate and live TV broadcasts as the ex-cabinet member was grilled by the Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament. There were live TV coverages from early in the day to late evenings. The Health ministry scam, nevertheless, led to some riots outside Afya House.

Back to Dr Magufuli. If he had become unpopular among a section of Kenyans for not paying a visit to the neighbouring country much earlier, then he won admiration for having the guts to crackdown on corrupt and lazy public servants, irrespective of their status.

Among the measures which appear to have impressed Kenyans was JPM ‘cleansing’ of the port of Dar es Salaam, until then known for its inefficiency and corrupt practices,was the firing of powerful officials such as the heads of the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB), the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), the Criminal Investigation Department of the Police Force and scores of other high ranking officials.

As far as the anti-graft war is concerned, Kenyans see Dr Magufuli in the forefront in fighting corruption instead of largely depending on the anti-graft watchdogs which some analysts say have often slept on their job, and in such case, forcing the intervention of the Executive.

Ms Faith Orinah, a resident of Kisii in western part of Kenya, is one of those who followed closely the two-day visit of JPM in Kenya last week.

She argued that although the two East African Community (EAC) member states still differ in a number of issues such as signing of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union, there was something ‘golden’ with the maiden visit.

“Kenya should make use of newfound warm relations with Tanzania in the war against graft”, she said, hastening to describe Dr Magufuli as “a 21st century hero and icon in the fight against graft”.

She said since his election as the country’s fifth president last year, JP has rid Tanzania of its prior reputation for endemic corruption and poor public service.

According to her, the country was ranked among the top 20 countries in Africa with the worst corruption and 117th out of 168 countries in Transparency International’s 2015 Corruption Index.

The no-nonsense President has been rebuilding trust by firing public officials deemed to be incompetent and corrupt, warning lazy and negligent government officials of dire consequences.

Another Kenyan, Felix Onyiego also from Kisii, had much to say as Kenyans discussed Dr Magufuli ahead of his historic visit to Nairobi last week.

“Magufuli is no ordinary character. He is down-to-earth individual who would make Tanzaia’s founding Father of Nation (Mwalimu Nyerere) smile in his grave”, he remarked, noting that the man is known for his ‘cleanliness’ and that his name had not been mentioned in any impropriety in a country where some leaders allied to the ruling party had become super millionaires.

He added: “He has in a short reign, introduced austerity measures to cut back on public expenditure and end official sleaze. In fact, research conducted before and after the elections consistently showed that the man was more popular than his party.”

Mr Karanja Njoroge who operates a business at Nairobi’s downtown Tom Mboya Street is one of those who would turn inquisitive upon hearing the name of the Tanzanian leader, especially on the way he is dealing with corruption on the spot.

“We elected Uhuru hoping he would do something on grand corruption but he has been too soft to the known suspects”, he said, in reference to the grilling of the embattled former Cabinet Secretary (minister) Waiguru.

The visit to Nairobi has apparently silenced some of JPM’s critics at home who had used his reluctance to visit neighbouring and other countries abroad to attack his administration as being inconsistent with the globalised world where nations had to connect and trade.

If Kenyans fail to get a magic wand from Dr Magufuli on how to tackle graft head on, they can wait to see how their taxpayers’ money was spent at the EAC, a regional body with membership of Tanzania and Kenya as well as Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and South Sudan.

Upon assuming the EAC chair, he descended in Arusha and shouted down dishonest officials whom he accused of having turned the organisation into a “cash cow” through misuse of tax payers money. He directed massive cutting down of unnecessary expenditure and costs.

Although, the chairperson of the EAC Summit is not responsible for day-to-day administration of the Community, officials at the secretariat have confided to The Citizen that the austerity measures currently underway had the influence of the no-nonsense Magufuli who has vowed to end extravagance.

“With Dr Magufuli around, there is no tolerance to the luxury of unnecessary travel and hefty allowances for work not done,” remarked a senior official at the Arusha-based secretariat when contacted on the austerity measures recently taken to cut down costs there.

The measures and reforms instituted recently by the secretary general Liberat Mfumukeko, through the blessings from his chairperson, have seen the Community saving some $588,768 in travel expenditure alone between May and August this year. The reforms target savings of $6 million in the 2016/17 financial year.

There had been reports of serious mismanagement of funds at EAC, particularly in travel. The Audit Report for the year ending June 2014 revealed a whooping $ 5.1m was spent on air tickets which were not properly procured.

Queries were also raised for the $ 3.4m air travel expenditure for the year ending June 2013 and June 2015.

His cost-cutting drive with regional organisations did not end with EAC. He has extended the exercise to the Pan African Postal Union (Papu), another regional body based in Arusha.

The continental body established more than 30 years ago, was directed to speed up construction of its permanent headquarters in Arusha with ample conference facilities and stop squandering money on hiring office premises and meeting halls.

The stern message was communicated to the management of Papu by President Magufuli through the deputy minister for Works, Transport and Communication, Mr Edwin Ngonyani in February this year, a few months after JPM was sworn in.

During a joint press briefing with his host President Kenyatta, Dr. Magufuli reiterated his resolve to fight corruption enable Tanzania to move forward, noting that Kenya would to be the country’s main trade partner.

According to him, currently there were 529 Kenyan companies have set up base in Tanzania and invested more than KSh170 billion (Sh3.4 trillion) and creating more than 56,260 jobs.

The two governments, however, remained mum on the signing of trade deal with the 28-member EU. The matter has apparently been deferred to the next EAC Summit slated for January next year.

Being the leading economies in the region,Kenya and Tanzania operate the world’s largest mobile money platforms M-Pesa Safaricom and Vodacom respectively. The two mobile phone operators have 26 million users with registered M-Pesa accounts.

Since the launch of M-Pesa’s cross border money transfer service, over $24 million has been transferred across the two countries and the volumes are increasing.

According to 2013 World Bank statistics,over $100 million is sent between Tanzania and Kenya annually through formal channels. Other statistics show that there were about 300,000 Kenyans residing in Tanzania.