Over the years, Tanzania has formed a habit of swatting what it considers annoying Kenyan flies with a hammer!
This was recently exemplified when Tanzania banned all Kenya Airways flights to and from Tanzania after Kenya denied the country’s airliner Air Tanzania’s request to operate cargo flights from Nairobi to third countries.
Although this ban was lifted a few days later after Kenya agreed to the request, one Kenyan, James Sang, has pointed out that actions by Jirani towards Kenya have oftentimes proved to be based on jealousy, sometimes outright hatred, for anything Kenyan.
Here is what Mr. Sang had to say on the persistent beef Tanzanians seem to have with Kenyans:
For the Tanzanian authorities, it was more than just cargo flights. It’s the whole fear (or jealousy) thing. They fear Kenyan business, Kenyan professionals, the Kenyan economy, and everything else in between.
This fear or jealousy is manifested in the drastic actions they take whenever there is a spat. Remember when they burnt 6,000 live chickens from Kenya?
Or when they banned Kenyans from going to TZ when Kenya included them in the 2020 pandemic restrictions? Or when they repeatedly ban Kenyan trucks from entering TZ, Or when they refused a work permit to a Safaricom executive?
It’s like the trauma of the dissolution of the older EAC has not completely disappeared. When they closed the border, they lost everything, including some of the EAA aircraft. KQ started flying soon after between Nairobi and Frankfurt and London.
Khafafa: Tanzania’s win over Kenya in spat over JKIA cargo rights was ‘meaningless’
ATC also got established soon after but did not have the equipment to fly internationally. In fact, it was soon known as Any Time Cancellation because of its poor record. They have never forgiven Kenya, nor KQ for that matter.
Even when you meet a random Tanzanian abroad, they have nothing good to say about Kenya. It’s an inherent hatred. So the recent banning of KQ was not just about the 5th air rights. It was the simmering hatred of Kenya that’s deep deep inside them.