Kenyan Diplomacy Under Uhuru Kenyatta

[Omollo]

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They have just irked Tanzania afresh by banning their Rosas from picking and dropping tourists at JKIA. How stupid can that get? Even if Kenyan Rosas aren't allowed in TZ, but they prefer to land at JKIA and then be driven to Mt. Kilimanjaro. Once they are done with Kilimanjaro, they return to Kenya to Maasai Mara etc.

Am no expert on tourism but I have sat with many on planes going to Kenya and out of it. It costs much more to land at Kilimanjaro Airport than land at JKIA and then shuttle to Arusha / Moshi to climb the Mountain. This means TZ will advice travel agents to book tourists to Kilimanjaro and can simply reduce the costs and take away traffic from JKIA.

Lastly, why can't Uhuru just phone Kikwete and fix it? Why the show of force? TZ in its history does not react  very well to power games and retaliates in ways that make Kenya suffer. They could start blocking Kenyan trucks through delays and insurance requirements.

[RV Pundit]

TZ generally mistreat kenyans travellers and tour vans. The issue is either to continue ignoring them or go for retaliatory actions.

[Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants]

Aren't such things supposed to be history, now that people are talking East African Federation?

[RV Pundit]

TZ is the odd man out. Right now you can visit uganda or rwanda without hasle; with just an ID card; you can work in Rwanda without a work permit; for tourist; you get one entry visa to any of 3 countries.

TZ somehow thinks kenya is benefitting or will benefit more from any EAC intitiave...

But they are okay joining SADC...and let the RSA ran the show.

Aren't such things supposed to be history, now that people are talking East African Federation?

[Omollo]

They used to do the same. Moi waited until Nyerere was home and then put a call through to Hassan Mwinyi and the matter was resolved. It looks like whatever they agreed on was not followed up hence the reference to the deal in Kandie's statement.

Pundit whatever the case, such a matter can only be dealt with diplomatically. I am sure if Tanzanians are mistreated at Namanga Uhur has no knowledge of it and if he did would not approve. So this is a matter of talking to people up there and they issue orders. Perhaps some guy is fired and all ends well. It may break out again in ten years and be ended the same way.

Border staff are like warehouse staff. If there is a large busy warehouse especially dealing with Food. The culture is just strange. Try solving it in a "civilized way" and see what happens to you.

TZ generally mistreat kenyans travellers and tour vans. The issue is either to continue ignoring them or go for retaliatory actions.

[Omollo]

TZ is always slow.

They are losing out as they did in the 60s, 70s and 80s.

TZ is the odd man out. Right now you can visit uganda or rwanda without hasle; with just an ID card; you can work in Rwanda without a work permit; for tourist; you get one entry visa to any of 3 countries.

TZ somehow thinks kenya is benefitting or will benefit more from any EAC intitiave...

But they are okay joining SADC...and let the RSA ran the show.

Aren't such things supposed to be history, now that people are talking East African Federation?

[RV Pundit]

I agree with you. That we just need to ignore any slights and go slow on them; in the meantime we need to work on Ethiopia-Kenya sort of EA. It's not fair for all these borders to block communities stradling the border like maasai or borana or somalis or pokot from free moving..just because some briton drew the border..seperating people.

TZ is always slow.

They are losing out as they did in the 60s, 70s and 80s.

[Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants]

TZ is the odd man out. Right now you can visit uganda or rwanda without hasle; with just an ID card; you can work in Rwanda without a work permit; for tourist; you get one entry visa to any of 3 countries.

TZ somehow thinks kenya is benefitting or will benefit more from any EAC intitiave...

But they are okay joining SADC...and let the RSA ran the show.

Aren't such things supposed to be history, now that people are talking East African Federation?

Someone is going to benefit more.  If they are more developed.  If they seem okay with RSA benefitting, then it must be a familiarity breeds contempt kind of situation.  They must feel they know Kenyans too well.

I wonder if the other countries would play along if they had their own access to the sea.

[Omollo]

Kenya can benefit a great deal from Ethiopia than TZ. Ethiopia needs a reliable avenue to the sea and Kenya can provide that. Think of the expansion that would accord Mombasa and Lamu.

The imprisonment and harassment of Ethiopians by the Police and Immigration must stop. Kenya should allow Ethiopians to work in Kenya without work permits and cross the border with National ID pekee. They accept less in wages and will help cool the overheating labour costs in Kenya. They are highly skilled in masonry, carpentry and other trades needed to free the construction industry from blackmail by trade unions.

The Key to opening up Northern and Eastern Kenya lies with Ethiopia and Somalia. There is nothing more to fetch in the Western and Southern Part of Kenya (apart from Tana). The only untapped resources in Kenya lie in the North (from Rift) to the East. The Next Las Vegas is waiting to take off.

I agree with you. That we just need to ignore any slights and go slow on them; in the meantime we need to work on Ethiopia-Kenya sort of EA. It's not fair for all these borders to block communities stradling the border like maasai or borana or somalis or pokot from free moving..just because some briton drew the border..seperating people.

TZ is always slow.

They are losing out as they did in the 60s, 70s and 80s.

[RV Pundit]

Precisely. Nothing more to add.

Kenya can benefit a great deal from Ethiopia than TZ. Ethiopia needs a reliable avenue to the sea and Kenya can provide that. Think of the expansion that would accord Mombasa and Lamu.

The imprisonment and harassment of Ethiopians by the Police and Immigration must stop. Kenya should allow Ethiopians to work in Kenya without work permits and cross the border with National ID pekee. They accept less in wages and will help cool the overheating labour costs in Kenya. They are highly skilled in masonry, carpentry and other trades needed to free the construction industry from blackmail by trade unions.

The Key to opening up Northern and Eastern Kenya lies with Ethiopia and Somalia. There is nothing more to fetch in the Western and Southern Part of Kenya (apart from Tana). The only untapped resources in Kenya lie in the North (from Rift) to the East. The Next Las Vegas is waiting to take off.

I agree with you. That we just need to ignore any slights and go slow on them; in the meantime we need to work on Ethiopia-Kenya sort of EA. It's not fair for all these borders to block communities stradling the border like maasai or borana or somalis or pokot from free moving..just because some briton drew the border..seperating people.

TZ is always slow.

They are losing out as they did in the 60s, 70s and 80s.

[Omollo]

Pundit

I had a discussion with an Ethiopian, a Somali and South Sudanese recently. Most of this comes from our discussion. I must say I got a new look at ourselves.

Then I am curious why we are investing in a small section of Kenya which had already been milked dry by Mzungu  long before he handed over the country. Traditional agriculture (for that is what we are doing in the West) can no longer sustain us. We have abandoned a huge part of the country to bandits and bad weather.

If you make me president, I would move the Capital City to some place in Eastern or North Eastern.  Not because I want to kill Nairobi but so I can inject new "blood" and thinking in Kenya. As we can see from the little the much despised NGOs are doing in NEP, the province has the potential to out produce any part of Kenya.

The advantages are immense. Create jobs in NEP and you ease populations in other areas. Resentment against the internal movement of people arises when the locals feel the state is assisting outsiders to take their land but is not doing anything for the locals. That is marginalization simplified. Let Somali, Borana, etc settle anywhere in Kenya without the police knocking on their doors at night as if they were housing ATMs.

I had no idea that most Somali businessmen hate Al Shabaab with a passion. It has ruined their investment in Kenya. Most Ethiopians have been remitting cash to Ethiopia via Kenya. If you fix road / rail transport between Nairobi and Addis and Mogadishu you would triple the passenger pop at JKIA and other airports. etc

[RV Pundit]

Let hope the Lapset and road snaking it way to Moyale will change all this. Isiolo would make a perfect capital city. It literally the center of kenya.

Pundit

I had a discussion with an Ethiopian, a Somali and South Sudanese recently. Most of this comes from our discussion. I must say I got a new look at ourselves.

Then I am curious why we are investing in a small section of Kenya which had already been milked dry by Mzungu  long before he handed over the country. Traditional agriculture (for that is what we are doing in the West) can no longer sustain us. We have abandoned a huge part of the country to bandits and bad weather.

If you make me president, I would move the Capital City to some place in Eastern or North Eastern.  Not because I want to kill Nairobi but so I can inject new "blood" and thinking in Kenya. As we can see from the little the much despised NGOs are doing in NEP, the province has the potential to out produce any part of Kenya.

The advantages are immense. Create jobs in NEP and you ease populations in other areas. Resentment against the internal movement of people arises when the locals feel the state is assisting outsiders to take their land but is not doing anything for the locals. That is marginalization simplified. Let Somali, Borana, etc settle anywhere in Kenya without the police knocking on their doors at night as if they were housing ATMs.

I had no idea that most Somali businessmen hate Al Shabaab with a passion. It has ruined their investment in Kenya. Most Ethiopians have been remitting cash to Ethiopia via Kenya. If you fix road / rail transport between Nairobi and Addis and Mogadishu you would triple the passenger pop at JKIA and other airports. etc

[Omollo]

Pundit

Looks like retaliation to me. Even I did not see this coming. I knew they would hit back but not on this magnitude. It covers KQ and many small airlines operating with low noise from Wilson Airport.

Published on Mar 17, 2015
Starting Wednesday, Kenyan airlines will have restricted entry into Tanzania following a review of bilateral air services agreements by the Tanzanian authorities. The Tanzanian civil aviation authority has slashed the frequency of flights into Tanzania by as much as 30% percent following what it terms of non-commitment by the Kenyan government to negotiate the service agreement.

They have just irked Tanzania afresh by banning their Rosas from picking and dropping tourists at JKIA. How stupid can that get? Even if Kenyan Rosas aren't allowed in TZ, but they prefer to land at JKIA and then be driven to Mt. Kilimanjaro. Once they are done with Kilimanjaro, they return to Kenya to Maasai Mara etc.

Am no expert on tourism but I have sat with many on planes going to Kenya and out of it. It costs much more to land at Kilimanjaro Airport than land at JKIA and then shuttle to Arusha / Moshi to climb the Mountain. This means TZ will advice travel agents to book tourists to Kilimanjaro and can simply reduce the costs and take away traffic from JKIA.

Lastly, why can't Uhuru just phone Kikwete and fix it? Why the show of force? TZ in its history does not react  very well to power games and retaliates in ways that make Kenya suffer. They could start blocking Kenyan trucks through delays and insurance requirements.

[RV Pundit]

Someone need to step in before we rollback all the gains of EAC.

[Omollo]

The hardliners appear to be directing the agenda. If anything I know TZ politicians are very sensitive to what is written in the Kenyan media. That could because because of geography most Kenyan radios and TVs easily transmit to TZ (don't know about digital). I wish the sycophants would shut up.

Someone need to step in before we rollback all the gains of EAC.

[RV Pundit]

I agree with Omollo. Kenya is like the big brother to sulking young TZ sibling. Kenya should avoid taking any measures against TZs. Their vans should pick tourist from JKIA. Our balance of trade will still be positive.

[Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants]

The usual story.  For the African, personal prestige, tribal prestige, then national prestige.  They trump everything else.  He will cut off the nose to spite the face.  It goes both ways for Tz and Kenya.

Instead of seeing this as an opportunity to grow both sides, they are busy shitting on each other.

[gout]

looks like Naikuni knew how to oil the hands of Museveni, Kikwete and the brokers .....Ngunze guy should give him a call and stop being mislead by the inward looking kenyan brokers ..otherwise we will be pouring another 5billion into KQ soon

[MOON Ki]

It's getting "better" by the day:

http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/kenyan-herders-fined-sh45-million-grazing-tanzania

At this rate, the "revived" EAC will have a much shorter life than its predecessor.

[Omollo]

The Swahili say: Usitupe ndimu kwa mzinga wa nyuki siku ya harusi! (Do not pelt a beehive with a lemon on your wedding day). I did experiment and it is one of my most shameful acts. The bees went on a two day riot. They entered homes and kicked out people. I could not believe so tiny a fruit could cause so much damage.

In the Other Place somebody has laughed at the possibility of war. I in turn laugh at the naivete. TZ just looks at these arrogant actions by Kenya as a rich man trying to humiliate his poor neighbors. The poor neighbors have the right then to revenge in every way possible using bakora ya mnyonge. Ongaro sang "Mnyonge hana haki" (the weak have no rights).

KQ has also irked the Ugandans by refusing to pander to the Ugandan tin god. They could be right but it looks like the tide is turning against them.

It's getting "better" by the day:

http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/kenyan-herders-fined-sh45-million-grazing-tanzania

At this rate, the "revived" EAC will have a much shorter life than its predecessor.