Secrets of uneasy Kenya, Tanzania diplomatic relations

simplemind

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Apr 10, 2009
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As he bid farewell to Kenya this week, outgoing Tanzania President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete was at pains to assure the country that there would be no change of policy in his country's relations with Kenya once he leaves office in two weeks.

He first gave the assurance at a State House luncheon on Monday and emphatically repeated the same in an address to Parliament on Tuesday.

"Only some very crazy person can contemplate shift of policy as far as good relationship with Kenya is concerned", Kikwete told a joint session of Parliament He said as Tanzania's largest trading partner, Kenya was strategic and would remain so for a very long time to come.

Kikwete gave a personal undertaking that the ruling party Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) candidate Dr John Magufuli will not have any different policy on Kenya in the event he wins the tightly contested presidential election scheduled for October 25.

"Let nobody have any misgivings about relations with Kenya in case the CCM candidate wins the election," insisted Kikwete. That the outgoing Tanzanian leader would go out of his way to publicly give such an undertaking tells volumes about the disquiet in Nairobi that it may not be business as usual in relations with Kenya's southern neighbour once he is out of power and is succeeded by Magufuli.

The unease with which the Jubilee administration views Magufuli has largely to do with the open secret that he is a close friend of the opposition Cord leader Raila Odinga. Indeed Kikwete himself said as much while in Nairobi.

"It is true that Magufuli and Raila are good friends just like I am a good friend of Kalonzo Musyoka. But being friends with Kenyan opposition leaders doesn't, and can't affect our good relations with the Kenya government," said Kikwete, adding that the relationship between the two countries is guided by policy rather than personal considerations.

Diplomatic niceties aside, the People Weekend has learned that there was unease at the highest level of Kenya government especially when Cord leader hurriedly flew to Dar es Salaam for a meeting with Magufuli a few days after he was unveiled as the CCM candidate.

Sources in the know disclose that a decision was quietly reached that Kenya tacitly throw its lot with the joint opposition candidate Edward Lowassa.

Sources say it is the feeling that Kenya's leadership was uncomfortable with the CCM candidate and leaning towards the opposition candidate that made Kikwete come to Nairobi to personally assure Kenyan authorities that there would be no shift of gears in relations with his country.

The official position in Kenya, however, is that the country is not backing any of the candidates in the Tanzanian presidential race, and that it was ready to work with whoever Tanzanian voters elect their new leader.

Contacted, the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dr Karanja Kibicho described as ridiculous any suggestion that Kenya was playing partisan in favour of the opposition candidate Lowassa.

Said Dr Kibicho. "Governments don't function through friendships of people. Tanzania is a friendly country and we shall work with the leaders Tanzanians elect in the forthcoming democratic election. It is ridiculous to think a government can be secretly partisan."

Besides authorities in Kenya being uncomfortable about Magufuli close association with Raila, it is an open secret that all has not been smooth sailing between Tanzania and her partners in the East African Community bloc.

Early last year, President Kikwete publicly alluded to the same when he complained that Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda had conspired to isolate his country on matters of political and economic co-operation.

"They are calling themselves the coalition of the willing with intention to isolate us. They are in some conspiracy to put us aside", Kikwete had told a session of his country's parliament sitting in Dodoma.

His remarks came soon after Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda signed a raft of agreements for joint co-operation on trade and infrastructure development. Ironically, even as Kenya and Tanzania treat each other with suspicion, there exists good personal chemistry between Kikwete and President Uhuru Kenyatta.

A State House source informs us the friendship was cultivated during a private visit Uhuru made to Tanzania in 2011 when he was deputy Prime Minister and had declared his intention to vie for presidency.

The source says it is during the visit that Kikwete committed to back Uhuru and not his main rival Raila Odinga who, as Prime Minister, had already developed good rapport with Kikwete.

During the visit, Kikwete secretly hinted to Uhuru that he didn't think then Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka was sincere with the shuttle diplomacy he was conducting at the time to have Kenyan cases at the International Criminal Court (ICC) deferred.

"Kikwete frankly told Uhuru that he suspected Kalonzo was only out to make impression on him and his running mate William Ruto that he was fighting for their cause in hope they would return the favour by backing his presidential bid", discloses the source.

It is after Kikwete had confided in Uhuru what he thought of Kalonzo that the latter and and Ruto decided to quietly drop Kalonzo from their game-plan in the 2013 election. Kikwete and Kalonzo got to know each other well when they served as their respective countries Foreign Affairs ministers early last decade.

It was Kalonzo as Vice President together with former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan who invited Kikwete to intervene when mediation talks almost hit a dead end in the 2007/8 post election violence.

While addressing Parliament on Tuesday, Kikwete remembered the delicate role he played in convincing then President Kibaki and Opposition leader Raila
to agree to form a government of national unity.

Source: mediamaxnetwork.co.ke
 
so now Kenyan media is resorting into destroying Kikwete and Kalonzo's good friendship! Poor you :bowl:...
 
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