Kenya, Tanzania row gets dirty as propaganda sets in

The coronavirus testing row between Kenya and Tanzania is getting dirty with retaliatory politics creeping in. Tanzania last month called Kenya’s testing of truck drivers at the Namanga border point a smear campaign against tourism in Arusha, Tanzania. 

A statement from the Arusha Regional Commission said Tanzania had put in place a system of collecting samples for testing drivers crossing the Namanga border from Kenya.

Curiously, the statement also gave a tabulation of infections at the border, including those of Kenyans, but kept the numbers for a certain country secret in a paragraph that reads: “Samples were taken from 44 truck drivers from Kenya on 14th May 2020, and results were released on 16th May 2020 whereby 14 drivers (11 from Kenya, 1 from Uganda and 2 from another country whose name shall be kept private) all from Kenyan side were positive. Thirty (30) drivers were negative.”

As at March 24th, Kenya has already sent back 182 foreigners with the virus to Tanzania – after it also announced tougher restrictions at its border with Tanzania and Somalia to curb the spread of the virus. The foreigners tried to enter the country at various border points from Tanzania after testing positive for Covid-19.

The action by Tanzania came a day after Kenya downplayed its border row with its neighbour, with Kenya’s envoy to Dar es Salaam clarifying that the two countries are fighting COVID-19, not each other.

Gambo claims Tanzania took samples of 19 truck drivers from Tanzania who tested positive in Kenya and sent them to Tanzania’s main National laboratory in the capital where they were all declared negative.

According to the statement, Tanzania decided to take the action to protect their citizens against any Covid-19 infections from Kenya, as well as ensuring the general population stands in good health. The country is anticipating to receive tourists when the high tourism season starts this month. On May 18th, Tanzania reopened its airspace to both scheduled and non-scheduled international flights after President John Magufuli directed the Works, Transport and Communication and Tourism ministries to effect operational and health measures to actualize that order.

At the time of press, plane loads of tourists aboard Ethiopian, KLM and Turkish airlines were expected to land in Tanzania, marking a critical milestone in the on-going re-opening of the country’s economy following nearly two months of lockdown. (