President Samia Suluhu Hassan is in Kenya for her first state visit since rising to the presidency of the United Republic of Tanzania. It's a visit that diplomatic watchers see as shuttle diplomacy intended to repair Tanzania’s image, dented by her predecessor Dr John Pombe Magufuli.
It may sound simplistic but to understand Tanzania one needs to understand Tanzania’s place in the geographical space it occupies both in East and Southern Africa.
The ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi has in its policies the enhancement of relationship within the regional, continental and global context well outlined. The challenge always is in the operationalisation or, if you will, living within the spirit of the document.
Here is how Tanzania sees itself and its relationships with others. In East Africa, Tanzania sees itself as a firstborn but feels that it is disliked, hated even, by its northern neighbours, Kenya.
How did we get to this point? A number of factors, mostly political but also socio-dynamics. In the days of political spats, the man eat nothing dig from Mzee Jomo Kenyatta still irks older Tanzanians. Make no mistake, President Julius Nyerere replied with his own man eat man dig.
The truth is Kenya continues to be a man eat man society and Tanzania has been on a 20-plus rat race to become as man eat man as good as it could get. In between, in the early 90s till the late 2000s, the trend for multinationals to bring Kenyans to Tanzania stoked the fires of sibling rivalry.
From banks, oil companies to insurers, Dar es Salaam was inundated with Kenyan CEOs who earned mega dollars and carried themselves with noses in the air.
This led to a level of quiet animosity whose apogee came to a head during President John Pombe Magufuli’s five-year rule.
In CCM’s view, shared by many Tanzanians, the country is the godfather of all southern African countries coalescing under the Southern African Development Community because of the role it played as the leader of the front-line states against apartheid and the fight for independence.
President Julius Nyerere was resolute and believed Tanzania would not be free if other countries on the continent were under colonial bondage.
While Rwanda and Burundi are tiny land-locked countries dependent on either Mombasa or Dar es Salaam ports, Uganda was rescued, so to speak, from the rogue President Amin by Tanzania’s army together with Ugandan rebel movements.
These factors point to how Tanzania sees itself. It paid a heavy price to help free many Southern African states, including South Africa, at a huge cost to its economy when Jomo Kenyatta was insulting the country.
As a consequence, Tanzania feels owed by SADC countries and indeed Uganda (whom it has invoiced in the past for reparations). The only country that is not seen as beholden to Tanzania in this region and context of things is Kenya.
As President Samia visits Kenya, it is not lost on observers that relations between these two sister countries ought to be cordial considering Kenya is the only country that shares not just over 1,400km of a joint land border but also Lake Victoria to the west and the Indian Ocean front to the East.
Plus Kenyan companies that have paid $300,000 each employ 56,000 Tanzanians, a far cry from less than 1,000 people employed by Tanzanian-owned companies in Kenya.
While sibling rivalry is inescapable, Tanzania needs Kenya just as much as Kenya needs Tanzania. The fallacy created by elements, including Magufuli, that Kenya and Kenyans are jealous of Tanzania’s bubbling economy while Kenya’s totters on the brink was, believe it or not, driven by Tanzania’s own internal politics.
On the table for discussion then should be matters of mutual cooperation. If the much-hyped economic diplomacy is Tanzania’s new approach, then there is all the more reason to discuss how Tanzania and Kenya will develop Blue Economy together.
That renowned diplomat and former Tanzanian ambassador to the United States Liberata Mulamula is spearheading this diplomatic restoration campaign is significant. She is astute, straight forward and is on first name terms with many world leaders. Tanzania was suffering from the brinkmanship cheered in pomposity from former Minister Palamaganda Kabudi.
With this being a first state visit, and with the position President Samia has taken on Covid 19, the future is bright. However, there is no doubt elements opposed to positive Kenya-Tanzania relations lie in wait.
Socioeconomic commentator based in Morogoro, Tanzania
