I should be frank to Madam President on her rushed visit to Kenya to do agreements with unpredicted regime that is full of surprises and about to wind up as early as February 2022.
Though I understand through our constitution every President is allowed to have different approach on regional issues and international policies, I still want my president to avoid the following:
- Allowing tour vans from Kenya accessing our national parks that have clear management plans unlike Kenya's, Kenya tourism stakeholders have always a chance to partner with tourism stakeholders in Tanzania and create more jobs and that arrangement should remain untouched;
- Giving more landing permits to Kenya airways or Jambo jet to land at more airports across Tanzania (inside and outside the parks) as matter of fact, I expect her hastened tour of Kenya to be a chance for her to ask for equal frequencies to be accorded to Tanzanian airlines across Kenyan airports be JKIA, Moi airport and Kisumu from Tanzanian airports of JKIA, KIA, AAKIA, Dodoma, Songwe n Mwanza!
- Bowing to any trade agreements outside existing East Africa common markets framework that protectionist Kenya deliberately subotaged;
- Giving in to any sort of arrangement to port (sea and inland) charges/tarrifs be it harmonization or allowing Lamu port to be a transhipment hub for cargo destined to Tanzania as that will jeopardise advantages our ports and SGR have to the regional trade as far as our geographical strategic position Tanzania have or poised to have with current modernization and SGR construction not forgetting raise insurance premiums as Lamu port is a risky zone;
- Agreeing anything about Kenya-EU EPA negotiations. EPA or any international trade agreements were supposed to be discussed as a block i.e. within EAC protocols but unfortunately greedy Kenya went alone and for that matter Kenya should accomplish them alone. Moreover, I don't expect her to give in to either Kenya-US or Kenya-China or Kenya-UK agreements as doing so will be a lethal balkanizing of regional block, tantamount weakening the agreed existing EA common market structures in place;
- Supporting Kenya in any way on her territorial sea dispute with Somalia currently at ICJ;
Common markets are meant to allow fair competition among member states in the region. Any agreements outside common markets are usually intended to undermine that and I would not agree to that. Samia Suluhu should ask why is Tanzania forced to sell maize and not flour in Kenya! BTW I will be shocked if she will be going without any MOU of Tanga-Mombasa natural gas pipeline as her meaningless to Tanzania's interests.
To be fair enough I am not pleased with her hasted tour of Kenya! I would have expected her to be conducting meeting with our business communities especially our tourism, horticulture and farmers stakeholders. But instead, she chooses to go and listen to grievances of a neighboring country's business community, did she have time to consult our economists? To me it is a wasted opportunity to listen to our business community first, I wonder whose interests is she representing in Nairobi?