On Tuesday, September 11th, 2007, Habari Leo newspaper (a Tanzanian daily) carried a story titled “Wakenya waanza visingizio” (Kenyans now start spewing excuses) on its front page.
The article started by saying that Kenyans were complaining that they were finding it increasingly hard to cross the border into Tanzania as they were being mistreated by immigration officers at the borders.
For instance, at the Isebania border post, there is a heavy presence of immigration officers hell bent on checking the ‘insalubrious’ influx of Kenyans into Tanzania. Kenyans found without the requisite travel documents have had to go through harrowing experiences.
This has left a bad taste in the mouths of Kenyans as they rightly ask why they are being mistreated while the Tanzanians crossing the border do so without a fuss being raised.
In the past, Kenyan businessmen were crossing the border on their way to Tarime (which is 25 kilometres from the Isebania border post) without any problem whatsoever. But now, according to these businessmen, things have changed.
There are many Kenyans working in Tanzania, the newspaper continues, and hundreds of Tanzanians working in Kenya as small scale business people, bartenders and sellers of second hand clothes (Mitumba in East Africa speak). This is slowly becoming a thing of the past as mistrust stealthily creeps between peoples of the two countries.
This mistrust has further been amplified by the recent armed robberies on Tanzanian soil thanks to robbers of Kenyan descent. This state of affairs has received the full vent of Tanzanian President Mr. Kikwete and the Minister for Internal Security Mr. Bakari Mwapachu.
The good intention of the East Africa Community, where it behooves us to live as brothers and sisters, is being sacrificed at the altar of bureaucracy and misconstruction. In fact, things are being taken for what they are not – literally speaking.
That’s my take. What’s yours?
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When will PNU wake up and get a serious campaign going?
If things are difficult in Tz, then why go there? One can look for opportunities elsewhere, say Uganda, Rwanda, DRC, or South Sudan.. Hannah Nyakanyi and her fellow thieves have made life impossible for genuine Kenyan Traders in Tz.
ReplyDeleteWell - tables are turned now, that was what Tanzanians used to experience when crossing the border into Kenya back in the days or even worse. Our dear Kenyan brothers and sisters - suck it and have a taste of your own medicine, it's therapeutic to us and eventually something good will come out of it. Poleni sana wandugu.
ReplyDeletei fully support the Tanzanian govt/people. i mean its not exactly a bed of roses for ugandans and Tanzanians in Kenya, so kenya must stop invoking the EAC when it suits them. So hongera tanzania
ReplyDelete"robbers of Kenyan descent?" do you mean Kenyan robbers? Maybe it sounds a little more harsh that way. Semantics aside, polisi nchini tanzania wana kila haki ya kuchukua hatua kali dhidi hao majambazi wakali toka kenya. enough is enough. hopefully this puts an end to the cross border criminal mischief, but if not, I'm sure our coppers are no where near running out of bullets. Everyone should be glad that they're putting their lives on the line like this to protect the public.
ReplyDelete