Time to set the record straight

Midas Touché East Africa

What you need to know:

Assuming that the chicks had been brought to Tanzania in a bona fide business transactions: why, pray, were they not refused entry, and sent back to Kenya?

The move by President Samia Suluhu Hassan to openly speak on an incident which took place in 2017 must be lauded.
Apparently some bureaucrat or the other made the decision to destroy by fire about 6,400 day-old chicks which were brought from Kenya to Tanzania via the Namanga border crossing in November 2017, ostensibly to prevent them from spreading bird flu in Tanzania.
Consequently, there were hundreds – possibly thousands or millions – of people on opposing sides regarding the incident. There were those, including those who hold high office, who thought it was a brilliant move that was also legal.
On the other hand, there were those who felt that the punishment exceeded the magnitude of the crime – assuming that a crime had indeed been committed.
The ferocity of the differences of opinion on this matter continues to divide the nation, and President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s wading into it seems to have resurrected an issue which – some people thought – had died and been buried.
Let us be honest on this one. To have made the decision to send thousands of day-old chicks to hell by fire was not really a matter of life and death for Tanzania and Tanzanians, as some would like us to believe.
Assuming that the chicks had been brought to Tanzania in a bona fide business transactions: why, pray, were they not refused entry, and sent back to Kenya?
Why was such a harsh decision taken on a matter that could have been resolved amicably? What message were we sending to the world by burning the innocent day-old chicks – and, did that message achieve the intended goal?
Remember that the person who underwent the loss was a young Tanzanian woman, and not a foreign criminal... Have we compensated the young lady who virtually lost a fortune, and went into depression only because of the actions of an individual, or individuals, whose sense of power went over the top?
These are some of the many questions that come to mind – and have no answers. Those of you with the view that destroying day-old chicks was in keeping with the law, or that it would save/protect Tanzania from chicken flu: here is newsflash for you!
Laws and legalities aside, our neighbours also have a flourishing chicken industry, and while they may not name their numbers with aplomb as the late President John Magufuli used to, they probably also have a problem that is not different from ours: shortages amidst plenty.
Our good neighbours have a veterinary department too. And, like us, they are concerned about bird flu and such other ailments. If they did not, they would be dependent on us and others; but they are not.
Not so long ago, Her Excellency President Hassan visited Nairobi, and I believe Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta will attendance the 60th Independence anniversary celebrations in Tanzania on December 9 this year.
In such exchange visits, the issue of us being good neighbours is always at the core, politics aside. The political narrative between our two countries has many similarities, but one core difference: that we took different paths that saw to Kenya remaining a free market economy, while Tanzania became “humanist in political formation” – if you will!
Sixty years after political independence, we are harmonising our political formations from lessons learnt. The one lesson we have not learnt is that the time for kutunishiana misuli (flexing muscles) is long gone. This is the message President Hassan is passing on – with the acknowledgement that we are children not of a lesser god, but of the same Creator.
Today, Air Tanzania is back to flying the Dar es Salaam-Nairobi route – and this could explain why the President took the decision to say that destroying the day-old chicks from Kenya was a bad decision. It was and remains a bad decision despite what muscle flexors would love to hear.
The President knows that over 56,000 Tanzanians are employed by companies from Kenya. By way of extrapolation: there are over half-a-million Tanzanians who are dependent on these two countries remaining closely knit.
Political brinkmanship, done for short-term interest of politicians, has no place in the diplomatic turf that is Kenya-Tanzania relations. Kudos to President Samia Suluhu Hassan, I say. It is your job to set the Presidential record straight – and you are already making a superb job of it.
Happy 60th Independence Anniversary, Tanzania.