The Kenyan Embassy in Tanzania says it is unware of claims that the Kenyan Ambassador to Dar es Salaam has been summoned by Tanzanian authorities over Starehe Member of Parliament (MP) Charles Njagua’s xenophobic remarks targeting Tanzanian traders.
A viral video clip of Njagua, popularly known as Jaguar, urging Nairobi traders to eject “Tanzanians and Ugandans” who have “dominated” the city markets, went viral on social media Tuesday, catching the attention of Tanzania’s National Assembly.
“If you visit our markets, you would realise they have been taken over by Tanzanian and Ugandan traders. It is time we say: ‘Enough is enough’! We give the Kenyan authorities 24 hours to send the foreign traders away. If they don’t, we – personally — will beat them up and kick them out. We fear nobody,” said Jaguar in the video clip.
On Tuesday, Tanzanian MPs asked their Speaker to address Jaguar’s xenophobic utterances, saying they feared for the safety of Tanzanian nationals living and working in Kenya.
The Speaker, according to Tanzania’s The Citizen ordered the government to issue a formal statement on the matter.
It was after the speaker’s directive that claims surfaced saying Kenya’s High Commissioner to Dar had been summoned by Tanzanian authorities.
A representative of the Kenyan Embassy in Tanzania, who spoke to K24 Digital on phone, said she was “unware” of such a summon.
“We have not received information that Kenya’s Ambassador to Tanzania has been summoned over an MP’s remarks. Unless Kenyan media is preempting such a move… As an office, we are unaware of such a summon,” said the Embassy representative, who sought anonymity.
Meanwhile, Kenya on Tuesday reassured foreign investors in the country of their safety following Jaguar’s remarks.
Government spokesperson, Cyrus Oguna, distanced Kenya’s leadership from Jaguar’s school of thought.
“We wish to state that this is not the position of the Government of the Republic of Kenya, and we denounce the comments carried in the video in the strongest terms possible,” read a part of press statement issued by Oguna.
