Tanzania's political instability risks spreading in the region

Described as having lost “its innocence” by the Citizen News Gang, Tanzania is in a political meltdown. After days of internet shutdowns, blackouts and curfews, the truth is slowly beginning to shine through state’s efforts to censor or control information.

With this, comes credible concerns about the conditions of Tanzanian protesters and Kenyans caught up in the violence. Concern this week shifted from the horrendous estimates of Tanzanian protester deaths and injuries to the conditions of possibly as many as 20,000 expatriate Kenyan teachers, entrepreneurs, health-workers, hoteliers, traders, bankers, engineers and students living and working in Tanzania.

Incredulously, it was President Samia Suluhu Hassan and other high level state officials’ unsubstantiated allegations that foreign nationals, and particularly Kenyans, are responsible for the violence that has claimed hundreds of lives in recent days that triggered these concerns.

 
Their allegations are neither backed by the Southern African Development Community, East African Community, African Union nor the European Union observer missions. The missions have generally concluded that the recent Tanzanian elections were neither free nor fair. Furthermore, there was widespread voter intimidation, ballot manipulation, excessive force against opposition supporters and deliberate shutdown of media and internet access. However, there is no mention of foreigners undermining the elections.
 
In the absence of hard evidence, it is easy to dismiss the allegations as another example of classic scapegoating. History is replete with this old and worn strategy. Adolf Hitler blamed the Jews for Germany’s economic woes. Idi Amin Dada deported the Asians and Robert Mugabe dispossessed white farmers to deflect economic crises.
 
The fatal police shooting of Kenyan teacher John Okoth Ogutu on October 29 and the arrest and detention incommunicado of Kenyan businessman Fredrick Lorent Obuya two days later in Dar es Salaam suggest however, that the risk to Kenyans in Tanzania are not just words.
 
These are not isolated incidents. The escalation of repression by Tanzania against the public, journalists and human rights defenders in the wake of the disputed elections, sadly seems to be extending even to those without a voice or a vote.

Under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, Foreign Service Act, Privileges and Immunities Act, the recent Kenya Foreign Policy and the Diaspora Policy, the Government of Kenya bears an unequivocal duty to protect its citizens abroad and demand accountability where their rights are violated.
 
The Kenya Government has acted in recent times to evacuate and return nationals from Israel, Iran, Lebanon and Madagascar. This week, the government paid Sh3 million to have Samuel Njagi released from his Ethiopian captors. Another Njagi, Bob and Nicholas Oyoo have not been so fortunate.

They have been unlawfully held by the government of Uganda without access by their families, legal, and consular representation for 38 days. This week’s phone-call between Kenyan and Tanzanian Foreign Ministers appeared to reassuringly establish some protocols between the two governments to ensure Kenyans are not profiled and targeted.

We must also demand that John Ogutu’s body be located, subjected to a credible postmortem and be repatriated to his grieving family. Fredrick Obuya deserves to be released or a fair hearing in a competent court of law with access to his family, consular services and an advocate of his choice.
 
As information emerges, Tanzania’s police and prosecutors seem set to see treason in every person who rejects the recent controversial electoral outcome. The charge sheets for 22 individuals in Kisutu Resident Magistrate Court range from “intimidating” the state and damaging public property to selling tear gas masks to civilians during protests.
 
In this context, the Government of Kenya must urgently safeguard all Kenyans currently vulnerable to arbitrary detention, deportation, revocation of visas, work permits, or contracts, as well as cyber and physical surveillance. Having missed a critical opportunity to conduct a peaceful and credible election, the Government of Tanzania must return to the drawing board and restore its democratic integrity or risk deepening regional instability for us all.