Kenyan envoy in Tanzania summoned over Jaguar’s ’xenophobic’ remarks
The Tanzania government have summoned the Kenyan High Commissioner to Tanzania, Dan Kazungu, following remarks attributed to Kenyan lawmaker Charles Njagua Kanyi which the neighbouring country has deemed to be xenophobic..
The Starehe Member of Parliament, who is popularly known as Jaguar, on Tuesday issued an ultimatum to Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i to deport Chinese doing menial jobs in the country.
He further gave the government 24 hours to evict all foreigners doing business in his constituency, failure to which he threatened to round them up, beat them and forcefully kick them out of the country.
SUMMONED
These remarks have sparked jitters in Tanzania where Speaker of Parliament, Job Ndugai, on Tuesday ordered the Government to issue a statement on the safety of Tanzanians in Kenya, leading to Kazungu’s summoning.
Tanzanian Prime Minister Mr Kassim Majaliwa confirmed the latest development, stating that Tanzania has taken seriously the Kenyan lawmaker’s remarks.
“We summoned the Kenyan High Commissioner to Tanzania. We also spoke to our High Commissioner in Kenya. The Kenya diplomat said it was a personal utterance that had nothing to do with the official position of the Kenyan Government. He promised that his country would summon the lawmaker to explain what he actual meant by the statement,” Majaliwa was quoted by The Citizen.