The President will be in Nairobi for a two-day state visit on Monday and Tuesday at the invitation of his Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta.
It will be the first time that the Tanzanian leader will be touring Kenya since he was elected to succeed Mr Jakaya Kikwete as President in October 2015. He since also taken over as the chairman of the East Africa Community Heads of State Summit.
Magufuli has been to Kenya before on different occasions as minister and as a private citizen. His visit has been highly anticipated in Kenya where he is adored for his crackdown on corruption back home since he was elected.
The President is known to be a close friend to Kenya’s opposition leader and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga with whom he has exchanged family visits in the past.
Authorities in Dar es Salaam were yet to release official information on the trip. Efforts to reach out to the directorate of communication at the State House for confirmation were not successful as spokesperson Gershon Msigwa’s number was unavailable. There was also no word yet from the ministry of foreign affairs.
However, the Kenya’s State House appeared to confirm that Dr Magufuli will indeed be in Nairobi on Monday.
A dispatch from the Presidential Strategic Communications Unit in Nairobi revealed Presidents Kenyatta and Magufuli will hold bilateral talks on Monday before addressing a joint press conference.
“State House invites your media organisation to cover a joint news conference by President Uhuru Kenyatta and Tanzanian President John Magufuli after their bilateral talks at State House, Nairobi, on Monday, 31st October 2016….” read the dispatch sent to media several houses yesterday.
The invitation was brief and did not carry any further details of the itinerary which was expected to be made public later today. However, sections of the Kenyan media had already leaked the details of the visit.
According to the reports quoting government sources, other than the joint press conference, President Magufuli will tour KVM – Kenya’s car assembly plant in Thika, as well as Brookside dairies owned by President Kenyatta’s family. The visit to the plants would reinforce the region’s desire to strengthen its industrial base.
Kenya is the leading economy in EAC followed closely by Tanzania and the two countries have had simmering rivalries over the years over economy, cross border trade and integration on general.
Tanzania which is the largest of the countries has recorded higher economic growth rate at an average of 7 GDP growth over the years, with its relative political stability endearing the country to more investors looking to set base EAC.
It was also reported that Kenya would use the occasion to woe Dar’s support for the candidature of its Foreign Secretary, Ambassador Amina Mohamed who has been fronted by her government to run for the African Union Commission Chair. The current chair, Ms Nkosazana Clarice Dlamini-Zuma is set to leave.
The Citizen TV said Ambassador Mohamed was set to address a news conference to formally announce her bid on Friday, but postponed it to a later date.
The station reported that the two leaders were also expected to discuss the prevailing situations in Burundi and South Sudan, as the East African countries rally for peace in these two nations.
“His host, President Uhuru Kenyatta, is also expected to lobby for a clear stand on work permits for Kenyans living and working in Tanzania,” reported the TV station.
It reported that President Magufuli has been hailed by many in Kenya for his different style in leadership. Commentators on social media in the country have wondered why Magufuli was taking long to visit unlike his predecessor Kikwete who frequented Nairobi among other countries in the region and across the world that he toured in his ten years as president.
Kenya will thus become the third African nation President Magufuli will visit since taking over the Presidency. The President who will mark his first year in office next week, on November 5, has only made two foreign trips—first to Rwanda and later Uganda.
The Kenyan visit will come in the backdrop of stark differences between the two countries on the adoption of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU) as well as Kenya’s loss to Tanzania of the lucrative $4 billion Uganda oil pipeline deal earlier in the year. It will remain to be seen also whether politics will play centre stage during the visit. It remains unknown if Mr Odinga will seek to see President Magufuli whose friendship did not appear to seat pretty with the current regime in Kenya.
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