Kenyan Government responds after Magufuli's rude message to Uhuru

dennis kibet

November 8, 2017 1:43 PM

The Kenyan Government responded swiftly after President Magufuli's statement.

The Kenyan Government has responded swiftly following Tanzanian President John Magufulis stern statement over the auctioning of 1,300 cows belonging to Kenyan Maasais.

Magufuli claims Tanzania isn't a grazing ground for Kenyan cows

The statement by Magufuli further heightened border tension between the two East African neighbours who have had frosty diplomatic ties in the recent past since the Tanzanian President took over in 2015.

The over 1,000 cows were confiscated and later auctioned for grazing across the border.

“Let them (Kenyans) also take similar action if cows from Tanzania are arrested in their country,” Magufuli said in a statement.

The move by the Tanzanian government sparked angry reactions by Kenya's pastoral community and their leaders led by Kajiado Governor Ole Lenku.

“This man (President Magufuli) is a disgrace to East Africans. He continues to sabotage good neighbourliness…Maasai Morans are being driven to defend themselves. We can’t tolerate this anymore,”Kajiado Governor Joseph Ole Lenku stated.

Hours following Magufuli's statement, Foreign Affairs CS Amina Mohamed protested the auctioning by the Tanzanian Government.

In a letter to her Tanzanian Foreign Affairs counterpart Dr. Augustine Mahiga, CS Amina said it was unfortunate that trade between the two countries is experiencing challenges.

“We are in conversation. I wish what happened did not but what we need to do now is to make sure our conversation can end up stopping anything like that from happening in future and give us a more sustainable way of dealing with issues as they arise,” Amina said.

However the CS added that talks between the two nations were ongoing to find an amicable solution is found over the matter.

dennis kibet