Is Tanzania Destabilizing Kenya?
I have always argued that
Kenya will do well working with Tanzania than competing and fighting with it,
after all, Tanzania is emerging as an alternative to Kenya. These recent claims
that certain neighboring countries are funding certain individuals in Kenya to destabilize the country by the government spokesman and most recent revelation by
Starehe Member of Parliament that the said countries are actually Tanzania and South
Sudan and that the individual being funded is Raila Odinga may not be in the
interest of Kenya after all. Leaving South Sudan aside, claiming that the Dar es Salaam
administration is funding the opposition to destabilize the Nairobi
administration can only widen the Dar/Nairobi rift that former President Jakaya
Kikwete sought to mend before leaving power. Of what use is Kenya's interest to
worsen the already shaky relations between East African Community member
states? Who loses and who gains at the end of the day? Uganda is already
looking down South and Rwanda is turning towards the same direction, Burundi is
in the ambit of Tanzania and if South Sudan is being accused of working with
Tanzania to destabilize Kenya, the fledgling Juba administration will have the
justification to look down south through the Ugandan corridor. What
will Kenya do with its multi-billion mega projects such as the standard gauge
railway, crude oil pipeline, modernization of the port of Mombasa, new port in
Lamu and LAPSET? Kenya has every reason to weigh how it wants to relate with
its neighbors and one of the surest way is to tame reckless political
utterances. If at all such a thing as destabilizing Kenya is ongoing, then it
is a terrible tactic and the country should deploy diplomatic arsenals instead of allowing these very annoying unmeasured utterances from politicians. I guess Ambassador Amina Mohamed is
better placed to handle this than Erick Kiraithe or/and Maina Kamanda. Is it
about time that President Uhuru Kenyatta swallowed the pride of the big brother
and made a state visit to Tanzania before it is too late?
Is Tanzania Destabilizing Kenya?
Reviewed by Ibrahim Magara
on
May 31, 2016
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