A section of Muslim clerics in Mombasa have condemned Kenyan
Gen Z for their disrespectful treatment of Tanzanian president Samia Suluhu.
"Mama Samia" was the subject of online attacks
after she rebuked Kenyan activists, whom she accused of trying to destabilise
her country.
Gen Z used AI to depict the female president in ways that
were demeaning to her persona, which the clerics took issue with.
Led by the Kenya Muslim National Advisory Council, the
clerics said Tanzanians are neighbours and provoking them is wrong.
“Tanzania is a sovereign state. We cannot take our bad
manners to our peaceful neighbouring country,” Kemnac chair Sheikh Juma Ngao
said.
Speaking in Mombasa, Ngao said Kemnac has good relations
with Jumuiya ya Maridhiano na Amani Tanzania and the National Muslim Council of
Tanzania – two organisations in the neighbouring country that promote peace and
cohesion.
They would not want that relationship interfered with.
“It is wrong for any Kenyan to insult Mama Samia and say
that Tanzania has no peace and democracy,” Ngao said.
He added that Kenya has had its fair share of disruption of
peace, while Tanzania has been peaceful throughout its history.
“In 1982 there was an attempted coup in Kenya, in 1992 there
was election violence that disrupted peace, the same happened in 1997. The 2007
post-election violence almost brought Kenya to its knees. The latest was in
June 2024, when Gen Z stormed Parliament almost toppling the presidency. It is
only Raila who saved the country,” the Sheikh said.
“Now you see people killed haphazardly and their bodies
thrown in rivers. So Kenya, at any given time, cannot teach Tanzanians and
their president about peace. They are far ahead of us in that aspect.”
He said Kenya is full of tribalism, unlike Tanzania, where
“even minority communities produce presidents”.
All these, he said,
make Kenya unworthy of lecturing her neighbour on peace and security.
“We need to be civilised towards Tanzania because in many
social ways they are way ahead of us. So to those who want to insult Mama
Samia, cease! We do not have the moral authority to do that,” he said.
He, however, said he is not against Gen Z, clarifying that
they went overboard.
“Discipline is the mother of all success,” he noted.
Kemnac vice chair Sheikh Abubakar Amin said Kenyans have
lost face in Tanzania because of Gen Z’s actions.
“Bad manners are not taught in schools or madrasa. They
start from the household,” Amin said.
“Mama Samia has a husband and children. What are we doing to
them? She is also a president. We need to be more sensitive,” Amin, who has
lived in Tanzania for 11 years, said.
He added that in Tanzania, insulting someone in public is an
offence that can land one in jail.
He called on parents, teachers and religious leaders to
instil discipline in Kenyan children.
