UK unilateralism angered Kenya

Pray, who doesn’t experience a quiet thrill when our ex-colonial master John Bull gets kicked nicely in his fat, pompous rump by a plucky underdog, in this case our own Kenya? The loud slap in the face Britain delivered in ‘Red-listing’ and banning Kenyans from entering the country over Covid-19 infections got its due and appropriate response: No further unrestricted flights into Kenya originating from or transiting through the UK. Tit-for-tat. It’s called “diplomatic reciprocity”.

No doubt, John Bull’s heavier bulk means Kenya will feel the pain of his slap more sharply, but that is beside the point. Bullies usually take note, in a surprised way, when the victim hits back.

They’ll be more careful dealing with him next time. Kenya’s retaliation came with the requirement that any Briton cleared for entry must undergo a two-week mandatory quarantine – at the visitor’s expense. Hehehe. That left a nice feel.

My only quibble with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ statement that announced the measures was that it was a tad shrill.

The stuff about “vaccine apartheid” was unnecessary. Let’s leave vaccines out of it for the time being. It’s a story for another day.

Let’s first focus on the travel ban and the Covid-19 justifications.

The way I understand it, there are two interrelated accusations Britain was making.

One is that Kenyans are travelling with fake Covid-19 test certificates.

Second, that we have been exporting the South African variant to the UK at a rate that merits special restrictions. Really? Is that what the scientific data says?

If this special danger arises from the South African mutation being present in Kenya, we are not alone.

The variant is already embedded in Europe, from where the majority of the visitors to Britain originate. There are literally thousands of those arrivals each day, even with the current Covid-19 limitations.

In comparison, an average of 550 Kenyans visit the UK each week.

I think Kenya has displayed more class in the circumstances. For sometime, a virulent corona variant from the UK has been circulating here and some other parts of Africa. The Kenyan authorities knew this but did not make a hysterical fuss about it, least of all banning flights from the UK. There have actually been reports that this UK mutant found its way here through the British military training unit stationed in Nanyuki.

I don’t think Kenya’s tolerance was foolish. It just seemed sensible to act proportionately and without overplaying the situation.

London did not have the courtesy to consult Kenya beforehand or forewarn us of the impending ban. Fair enough; maybe it is not our right to be consulted.

However, those I briskly write off are a wretched bunch of my countrymen who are whining that we can’t afford to engage Big Brother in a pissing contest.

These are folk conditioned to believe in outdated patron-client relationships. Heck, this is more than just a pissing contest. Don’t dignity and self-respect and self-worth hold any value anymore?

So what if the UK’s GDP is $2.6 trillion while ours is a mere $101 billion? Does it mean the niceties of diplomatic engagement despite an ongoing pandemic should be thrown out of the window?

Sure, Britain is one of Kenya’s biggest trading partners. Note: the trade balance is very much in their favour.

And yes, the largest component of foreign investment in Kenya is British. We sell a lot of tea and flowers to them too.

And true, our tourism business without UK tourists would be very badly hurt, even in normal days without Covid-19.

But why should we even be repeating these things? Matters have not reached breaking point. And they won’t. All that is there now is a travel tiff over Covid-19.

I certainly don’t expect the Brits to escalate the dispute. Britain is an old hand in dealing with prickly colonial ‘provincials’. It knows when not to push too hard and when to give way.

Very recently, British Airways got into hot water with Ghanaian authorities when the airline wanted to shift its Ghana-bound flights from London Heathrow to the less prestigious Gatwick airport, starting March 28.

In retaliation, Ghana threatened to redirect BA flights from Accra to Kumasi, 251km away.

For BA, the choice basically would have meant cutting back its flights to the country. BA gave in and ditched its Gatwick plans.

The Brits never want to learn the one obvious lesson from such incidents.

The aspect that particularly annoyed the Ghanaians was that BA’s decision to relocate flights to Gatwick had been taken unilaterally.

That non-consultative style is precisely what has angered Kenya most in its travel brawl with the UK. It is so typical of UK decision-making relating to Africa and her issues.