Business animosity and tension between Kenya and Tanzania were sore in 2017 as the two neighbouring countries were embroiled in small, big, direct and indirect supremacy battles, some pitiful and avoidable.
Two of the region’s biggest economies are mending their fences, if recent events are to go by. Kenya and Tanzania are seeking urgent fix to several areas of mutual interest where they have recently fallen short due to divergence of ambitions and interests.
Presidents Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya and John Pombe Magufuli of Tanzania have ordered their respective trade, regional and foreign affairs ministries to ‘urgently meet and quickly’ resolve past and current disputes among the two countries.
The move, if cemented, could see improved relations as well as bolster efforts to fast track regional integration that had been challenged by the recent spats between the two EAC neighbouring countries.
In the recent past, the two major economies have been fighting for the control of the East African Community (EAC)’s main infrastructural projects, including planned construction of oil pipelines and the standard gauge railway (SGR).
The two countries also fought about chicken exports from Kenya to Tanzania with the latter’s officials burning thousands of chicks from the former for fear that they would spread bird flu.
In another misunderstanding bigger than the chicken disagreement, Tanzania confiscated hundreds of cows owned by Kenyan cattle keepers. These were at that time found grazing on the Tanzanian side of the border.
Tanzanian authorities subsequently auctioned the cattle, a development that saw Kenya, through her Foreign Affairs ministry and Maasai community elders, react angrily, noting that what was happening was an injustice against Kenyan citizens and their business interests which if not managed ‘risked soiling historical relations between the two neighbours.’
But on his part, President Magufuli as quoted by The East African newspaper said that ‘Tanzania is not a grazing land for Kenya’s cows and that his government would continue to confiscate and auction livestock that crosses the border into Tanzania illegally.”
By December 2017, Tanzania had seized over 1,300 head of cattle from Kenya and auctioned them.
But, in a move to fix these matters and ensure warm co-existence between citizens from the two countries, Kenyatta of Kenya and Magufuli have ordered their respective trade, regional and foreign affairs ministries to resolve past and current disputes among the two countries.
These orders were issued following a closed meeting attended by both Kenyatta and Magufuli on the sidelines of the recently concluded Joint EAC Heads of State Retreat on Infrastructure and Health Financing and Development summit that was held last week at Speke Resort Munyonyo, Kampala.
“We have small issues relating to businesses and traders between Kenya and Tanzania. We want Kenya and Tanzania ministers to meet urgently and resolve these issues. These are small matters that should be resolved quickly. As leaders, we don’t have a problem. We are okay,
