From: Damian Gabagambi
Sent: Friday, September 11, 2009 9:44 AM
Subject: Kenyans ought to respect Tanzanians
Read on!
KENYANS OUGHT TO RESPECT TANZANIA
If defending our great country means the death of the federation, so be it!
By Mobhare Matinyi, Washington DC
THE recent rhetoric from Nairobi on the sensitive issue of East African integration has been obscene and inane to say the least. Some of our neighbor’s politicians and journalists have bragged about the subject so much that they have completely forgotten the truth that they are among the icons of disunity and disintegration in Africa.
What irks me more is the tone of the arguments that seems to be derived from the simplest mind one can find on earth. How dare a Kenyan refer to Tanzania as a dirty poor country while 50 percent (19 million) of Kenyans live in abject poverty?
To the contrary, 36 percent (14.4 million) of ;Tanzanians live in poverty, and that is why we have programs such as MKURABITA. We don’t deny our poverty, we fight it. If they are rich, why don’t our integration tutors salvage their own poverty first?
Tanzania’s economy is a fraction of Kenya’s economy?! Please give me a break. Last year, Kenya had a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) based on purchasing-power- parity of about $61.22 billion. Tanzania’s was $51.03 billion. So is this $10 billion difference such a big deal? Let me tell you Kenyans, your GDP is less than what the US investor Warren Buffet keeps in his pocket. In March 2008,the Forbes magazine estimated Buffet’s worth at US $62 billion in its annual ranking of the world’s richest people.If this difference is so significant, why can’t the Kenyan government stop their men from sending their wives to practice prostitution to earn a living? I am not kidding, in 2006 the CNN international correspondent, Christine Amanpour traveled to Kenya as part of a special documentary on AIDS and HIV called Where Have All the Parents Gone? You can visit the link: http://www.cnn. com/2006/ WORLD/africa/ 07/17/amanpour. africa..btsc/ index.html
Let me directly quote from the CNN website: Tribesmen told us the appalling story of sending their wives out for prostitution, in order to afford food. But along with the food, they bring AIDS back to their tribe and their village.
Now, if Kenya is so rich, why does such humiliation exist? One may think there is a point in the whole blawling and whining, but there isn’t! It’s just arrogance. Mind you, Kenya has more external debt ($6.7 billion) and domestic debt ($3 billion) than Tanzania’s $4.4 billion and $1 billion respectively. Even worse, Kenya has more trade deficit ($4.4 billion) than Tanzania ($2.6 billion), and Kenya’s last month inflation rate was 28.4 percent compared to Tanzania’s 11.8 percent. And so is the noise about Tanzania’s labor force, which is almost twice that of Kenya. The Kenyans claim that ours is unskilled and theirs is skilled because they speak ‘better broken English.’ Japan is the second richest economy in the world, Germany the third, and now China is the fourth. Do they speak better English than Tanzania?
English is t he language of our former colonial masters that Kenyans still embrace, that’s it. We have our own language that Kenyans are now working hard to take a refuge in.
Swahili brought unity among us, and we are very proud of our language, not our master’s language.And who said that common market must include land, replacement of passports by shoddy national identity cards, and permanent residence?
Europeans are sober and have been around with their European Union for a while now. Do you think they are naïve for excluding these three things?
The fact of the matter is: Kenyans and the rest, that includes Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, want to quickly off load their problems on our motherland. That will never happen as it is inconceivable. Only an imbecile can fail to grasp the reasons why Kenyans insult our United Republic of Tanzania, the one and the only in Africa. We are proud of our country and we are ONE.
For many years, Kenyan governments, one after the other, have inculcated in their people the se nse of disunity and inequity. From the day Kenya got independence, Kenyans have never been one people. Kenyans go by their tribes -Kikuyu,Luhya, Luo, Kalenjin, Kamba, Taita and many others.
That makes all the noise we are hearing about the importance of
integration totally nonsense. Since when did a Kenyan know better about unity than a Tanzanian? To be frank, most Kenyans are not only arrogant, but misanthropic. I don’t understand who certified them as integration tutors?
Kenyans grew up in a jungle-like society where nobody cared about anybody. For example, Kenyan police and prison officers are known in Africa for inhumane practices. In one incidence in 1997, a journalist was forced to wipe up human excrement with his bare hands. Please this link to see the story of a journalist, Evans Kanini: http://asiapacific. amnesty.org/ libra…pen& of=ENG-2F4 Kenyan society is unfriendly, pompous and arrogant,which makes it very incompatible with Tanzanian society, people who are peace-loving, humble and friendly. Let me ask Kenyans – between the two societies, which one should emulat e the other? Or in which would you like to live?
Because Tanzanians decided to experiment with socialism after independence, the western nations fought back by investing heavily in Kenya to discredit our ideology. And since Kenya decided to embrace their colonial masters, they had an easy road when it came to industrial development and large-scale farming.
Again Tanzanians, on the other hand, we decided to help our southern Africa brothers and sisters to fight for their freedom. Kenya at that time was the darling of the west and even kissed the Boers feet. It was disgusting.
Last but not least, Tanzanians, we had to uproot the Butcher of Africa who invaded our country, Dictator Idd Amin Dadah. Since he had the blood of his own people on his hands, removing him from power in Uganda was an automatic obligation for us; we did it with pride.
These historical events put economic pressure on us, and as a result we finished the 20th century somehow behind Kenya. However, with our social and political attitudes that took time to nurture, with our=2 0massive land and countless natural resources, we are far better placed to take off in the 21st century than Kenya.
Immodestly and shamelessly, after rejecting the first idea to form the United States of East Africa in early 1960 as advanced by Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, and after breaking up the former East African Community in 1977, Kenyans are suddenly becoming the ‘uniters.’ Yes, we know that Kenya wants markets for her industries that contribute 16.7 percent to the GDP so that our ‘less-developed industries’ that contribute 18.9 percent to our GDP can die; and we know that with a 40 percent unemployment rate, Kenya wants an alternative source of employment from any means, thanks to Kigali for waiving working permits recently. The list of needs for Kenyans has hit the roof and that includes water, energy, minerals, natural gas, food crops, cash crops, livestock, national parks, Mount Kilimanjaro, the whole of Lake Victoria, even Zanzibar, and a home for their robbers.
Kenyans also want an opening to release the pressure of their social inequality built by constant tribalism and discrimination. And, the political tension has just added the fuel to the fire. With Kenya’s annual foreign investments now below one-tenth of Tanzania’s (over $500 billion now), with corruption mounting day-by-day, with degradation of rule of law and increase in absolute poverty, Kenya is about to implode.
Come the year 2025, the Kenyan population is estimated to be over 51.3 million – where will all these people suffuse? Kenya is largely a desert country in the north and the fertile land is mostly owned by the white settlers and by few African elites. No doubt Kenyans need land from us. By the way, our population in Tanzanian by the year 2025 is projected to be 57.4 million. That’s wonderful because we have enough land for everybody. Don’t touch it.
In fact Mwalimu Nyerere warned in 1958 (well before independence) that privation of land is dangerous for poor Africans. Kenyans didn’t get it, and Mzee Jomo Kenyatta said: KENYA NI KAMA NG’OMBE ALIYECHINJWA, MWENYE KISU KIKALI ATAKULA NYAMA KUBWA.” Literally means: “Kenya is like a slaughtered cow; whoever has a sharp knife will eat a big steak.” Now you are eating it!!! Kenya is infamous in Africa for human trafficking and a high crime rate. On every major tourism and travel website of the world, people are warned of the crime in Kenya. Not long ago a wave of armed robberies crossed=2 0the border into our country, and Tanzanians have not forgotten. Thanks to our security organs, our land is safe again.
The Nairobi newspaper, The East African, this week reports that a London based think tank, known as the Institute of Public Policy’s Research (IPPR), has placed Kenya and Uganda> among the 20 weakest and failing states of Africa together with Somalia, Rwanda, Burundi and Zimbabwe while Tanzania has been praised.
The same newspaper also reports that Kenya and Uganda have been again kicked out of any prospects for Millenium Challenge assistance while Tanzania continues to enjoy the disbursement of $698 million, which is the highest ever. As usual, Kenya scored poorly in rule of law, immunisation rates, health expenditures and fiscal policy.. In the corruption perception index prepared by Transparency International (TI), Kenya ranks 147th while Tanzania ranks 102nd among 180 countries. The World Bank Institute (WBI) groups Kenya together with Afghanistan and Somalia on criteria such as control of corruption, rule of law, and political stability.
Before thinking about integration, Kenyans should have first been retrospective. Tanzania, we are not trying to interpose the integration process, but we are defending the present interests of our country for our future. We have much more to lose than to gain in this insane idea of weird integration. The perfervid rhetoric will not hamper us from defending our invaluable country. We have uncovered your trick to inveigle us into a trap. Your belief that Tanzanians are senile is incorrect and whatever you are trying to maraud will never be bequeathed. Tanzanians are not ready for any Kenyan jingoism, and we are not ready to witness the death of our national ethos for the sake of a fake unity withpeople who slaughter each other. We don’t see any reason to be roped into this kind of federation now.Be placid, and listen to us and maybe it will happen several decades from now! If defending our country means the death of the federation, so be it. We will not yield to your invidious pressure. It took us time to build this wonderful nation you are seeing today; we know for sure that whatever we lose today will be irrecoverable tomorrow, so beware. The ideas of identity cards instead of passports and permanent residence are only means to an end, an d that is, grabbing our land and resources. No, no, no! It is so rejecting that we even got to this stage of discussion, but we hope that our leaders are reading the writing on the wall.
Kenya, just like Tanzania, is impecunious, but the difference is there is hope in Tanzania while in Kenya everything is dead. You’d better blame yourself! Swahili people say: Usivione vinaelea, vimeumbwa hivyo.
Long live Tanzania, the land of opportunity and the home of the patriots.
Hussein A Abbas Al Hussein Sep 11 (13 hours ago)
date Sep 11, 2009 10:44 PM
subject Re: Kenyans ought to respect Tanzanians
I have never heard since I was born its over 59 years now . That Kenya has been claiming any land from Tanzania and vice versa . So one has to defend his country its true , but the relation between Kenya/Tanzania no one will dare to pock his mouth andtry to break this wonderful relaion .
Hussein Abbas
maurice oduor Sep 11 (20 hours ago)
date Sep 11, 2009 4:27 PM
subject Re: Kenyans ought to respect Tanzanians
I grew up in Coast Province of Kenya and I had alot of Tanzanian neighbours, especially the Digos and Makonde (I believe the Makonde were either from the south tip of Tanzania or from Northern Mozambique).
I alsoo traveled alot to Tanga and Dar and the whole time I never realized that Tanzanians felt like this about us Kenyans. This is interesting. I guess I just did not see it.
I notice the writer of this piece, Mobhare Matinyi, has conveniently omitted the constant political squabbles in Zanzibar and Pemba. In fact we have alot of Wapemba refugees in Shimoni, Kenya near Lunga Lunga.
If TZ is such a great place, how come you guys have alot of religious conflicts between Christians and Moslems? Matinyi forgot to include this.
What about the incident recently where the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania burnt down peoples’ homes in Iliondo? Matinyi forgot this one too.
On a personal note, I once dated a Tanzanian woman who left her job as a UN lawyer in Kigoma to come and live with me here in Canada. we were together for 6 months but had to go our separate ways because we proved to be polar opposites of each other. She was a daughetr of a member of parliament and was spoilt rotten. She was the meanest person I have ever had the misfortune of knowing; and she was Tanzanian! Basically, she could not understand why I had no housemaid !!! In the west, only very rich people have maids.
Kenyans and Tanzanians are neighbours and let us strive to strengthen out relationship; we should not squabble like this on a public forum. In fact, I do not recall any Kenyan ever writing such a rotten piece about TZ.
My take? Matinyi represents a minority opinion among Tanzanians with respect to how Kenya is perceived by our TZ brothers and sisters.
Courage,
Maurice
“bwiko.n@ . . . Sep 11 (20 hours ago)
date Sep 11, 2009 3:56 PM
subject Re: Kenyans ought to respect Tanzanians
I read that mail…..and I felt like Superman….
Great insightful article and well researched….thorough kabisa…..
I’m proud to be Tanzanian…..God bless Tanzania and then the rest of the world….ooops he’s done it already….
Cheers,
Bwiko Kyriakos,
Mwanza, Tanzania.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone from Zain Tanzania
j_d k Sep 11 (22 hours ago)
date Sep 11, 2009 2:23 PM
subject Re: Kenyans ought to respect Tanzanians
Swali. Tuwanyime wa Africa wenzetu, lakini tuwakubali wa Arabu?
Saudis request for 500,000 hectares 2009-04-17
By The Citizen Reporters and Agencies
Saudi Arabian investors want to lease 500,000 hectares of farmland in Tanzania to grow rice and wheat.
The Saudis made the request during President Jakaya Kikwete?s visit to the Kingdom that ended yesterday. Senior officials from the Saudi capital’s chamber of commerce came up with the request on the sidelines of a meeting with the Head of State.
President Kikwete is reported to have told the Saudis that Tanzania could lease them plots that covered up to 10,000 hectares each for 99 years.
“Tanzania is ready to do business with you … There is 100 million acres (40.5 million hectares) of good arable land,” Reuters quoted Mr Kikwete as telling the Saudi businessmen.
The Citizen yesterday spoke to several prominent individuals, who welcomed the development but called for a systematic approach, saying the country?s interests should come first.
Senior economist Ibrahim Lipumba said promoting agriculture was important, but added that such investments required concrete policy direction. Mr Lipumba is also chairman of the opposition Civic United Front.
The president of the Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (TCCIA), Mr Aloys Mwamanga, called it “good business”, provided collateral benefits for the country were taken into account.
Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) executive director Emmanuel ole Naiko said such an investment would create many jobs for locals, adding that he expected the Head of State to refer the Saudi investors to TIC.
“We already have policies on contract farming and outgrowing. We have the Land Act of 1999. All these will be adhered to. It’s a fact that we have abundant land and there are already institutions renting land to local investors to farm for a specified period of time,” Mr ole Naiko noted in a telephone interview from abroad.
Reuters reported yesterday that Saudi businessmen and officials would visit Tanzania in the next few weeks to follow up the matter. The Saudis are interested in leasing the equivalent of about 0.5 per cent of Tanzania’s land surface because of the country’s geographic proximity, political stability and availability of water resources and farmland.
“He (President Kikwete) told us that Tanzanian authorities can lease us plots each of which covers up to 10,000 hectares for a 99-year period,” Mr Samir Ali Kabbani, head of the chamber’s agriculture committee, told Reuters.
“They can lease the land from the Government,” Mr January Makamba, an aide to President Kikwete, also told Reuters.
The Saudis are not alone in this since in the face of food shortages and with demand for biofuels growing, an increasing number of wealthy nations are buying up land in developing countries, particularly in Africa, to ensure a steady supply of crops.
High-ranking officials from many of these nations have been on the road since March 2008 in a diplomatic treasure hunt for fertile farmland in places like Uganda, Brazil, Cambodia, Sudan and Pakistan.
The idea, which has been called a “new scramble for Africa”, is not without its critics, who question why Africa should lose valuable farmland when it is chronically short of its own food.
Kenya, Sudan, Ethiopia and now Madagascar have all recently offered vast tracts of farmland for lease, hoping to cash in on a growing trend whereby developing countries from Ukraine to Cambodia offer fertile land to the highest bidder.
Qatar plans to lease 40,000 hectares along Kenya’s coast to grow fruit and vegetables for its own citizens in return for building a ?2.4 billion (Sh3 trillion) port close to the Indian Ocean tourist island of Lamu. The plan has, however, met with stiff opposition from activists.
Prof Lipumba said there was nothing wrong with leasing land to foreigners in a country where less than 10 per cent of arable land is under cultivation, but added that such investments should come through TIC, and not private requests to the President. He said he expected the Saudis to create jobs for locals and bring into the country modern farming methods.
“The issue of promoting agriculture is primary. What we currently need is a transparent policy on foreign direct investment in the sector. The policy should lay down conditions that protect national interests,” Prof Lipumba added.
Mr ole Naiko said the Saudis had already shown interest in farming in Tanzania, but the latest development could lead to the biggest land-leasing agreement with foreign investors. He said such a project would be beneficial, but cautioned that the sensitivity of land matters in the country needed to be keenly considered.
“A contingent of large-scale farmers from Saudi Arabia visited us about two months ago, and made a request to lease land, but we told them to wait for results of the feasibility study of the project. We are still trying to find out whether there are people willing to lease out land or not,” he noted.
http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/newe.php?id=12044
Puja Philip Sep 11 (1 day ago)
date Sep 11, 2009 12:18 PM
subject Re: Kenyans ought to respect Tanzanians
We must call a spade a spade. Political intergration does not mean sharing LAND. Land is a very precious inheritance. It belongs to Tanzanians ONLY.
CONGRATULATIONS Mobhare Matinyi for a detailed defence of motherland Tanzania.
Hussein A Abbas Al Hussein Sep 11 (1 day ago)
date Sep 11, 2009 7:11 AM
subject Re: Kenyans ought to respect Tanzanians
Nakushukuru sana ndugu for your information’s that was lovely report .
One thing that a Politicians and the government can say what ever they want but we should be careful our relations as Kenyans and Tanzanians should not be involved . Our relation is base for long time back centuries . Mtu mmoja asiharibu uhusiano wetu na undugu wote wa miyaka mingi iliyopita . Tujaribu kuzungumza kwa njiya ya busara we are one family be Tanzania or Kenyan .
I hope that will not bring abuses to innocent Kenyans who have nothing to do with reports be from USA or any other countries in the world .
Thanks
Hussein Abbas
Kenyan
from Leonard Mboera Sep 11 (1 day ago)
date Sep 11, 2009 3:17 AM
subject Re: Kenyans ought to respect Tanzanians
Thank you! I have read it
I read this article on another website, and this was the response a Kenyan on the board had for him:
Ngugi Kamau
Response to a Tanzanian Brother on Negativity Towards East African Unity
Though this gentlemen has made a lot of true points, he sounds even more divisive and negative then the Kenyan he is criticizing. That is unfortunate because as a highly intelligent East Africa it is people with his training who can help bring change. No sane and honest African can deny the role Tanzania has played in the independence movements, and in showing other countries how to build a united people. I think we are all so petty by our consistent throwing of insults back and forth. For us Kenyans we demean Tanzanians by calling them lazy, instead of using them as a role model for unity, and Tanzanians criticize us for being tribal and untrustworthy instead of praising us for our work ethnic and business sense.
The Tanzanian who work this piece may think that by insulting Kenyans and East African unity he is scoring some petty abstract points, but that is all he is doing. First of all, once you acknowledge that Kenya is really controlled by a small African elite and white landowners and is “divided” by tribal politics, then how can you reasonable criticize and cast guilt on Kenya as if its “united” people thinking within one intention. As we all know half of Kenyans are poor, and the majority of the rest of us are industrious hard working aggressive people. We dont support are those vile things he spoke of. Prostitution, high crime in Nairobi and the like. I extol Tanzanians like him to instead of presenting a hallow arrogance, to instead inspire Kenyans, Uganda, Rwandans to achieve unity, but not a unity within our states, but regional unity.
Because the truth is my Tanzanian brother, China and South Africa, Angola and AID partners don’t mean you any better then we do. If you really care about Tanzanian, why instead of insulting us Kenyans, why don’t you do two things, one, praise us for our business sense, understanding that with your unity, if you had our business drive you can achieve miracles, and two, instead of using it as a source of petty bragging rights, use the moral legitimacy of Tanzanians spirit of unity to spread it like a blanket onto the region at large.
Because the fact is, like Kenya, South Africa is also not controlled by the people but also by a small African political elite and an even larger group of whites who control more then just land. And let me tell you something brother, they African political elite in South Africa care less about Tanzania did even the dreaded Mwai Kibaki and crew. South African in general don’t care about Tanzania’s, dont, and never will learn Kiswahili, same goes for Angola, Botswana, Zimbabwe. Same thing goes for China.
So while my Tanzania brother goes on about the weak points that the majority of Kenya’s every people really have to suffer from, he ignores what benefits we have to offer, while ignoring Tanzania’s weak points, while arrogantly bragging instead of offering to the region the benefits Tanzania has to offer. Because if it is not Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, and Kenya who within the confines of a just United East African federation, who will be playing a major role in Tanzanian life for the better, it will be the other states who will be playing a major role solely for their own interest, taking land that Tanzanians are today afraid Kenya will take, exporting raw materials to their own home country from areas that only which the full use of regional efforts, capital, and brains would ever become industrial facilities.
I have gone on way longer then my community standards allotted time, and I apologize, but Butembo, if you put this article on here to show that Tanzanians dont want to join with East African people for a greater unity in purpose, all you have shown is that there is still more work to be done by young, educated, and high minded members of our community to ensure we form a union with those we share most in common with, to protect our interest against those we share little in common with, who in gesturing as if they are working for mutual interest present trojan horses, and that within that union we humbly take the best from our significant societies, while ruthlessly suppress the worst from them.
We have no other choice.