Be careful not to trigger South Africa-like xenophobia

Trade CS Lee Kinyanjui says the growing number of foreigners operating in the retail and local trade sectors is worrying.[File.]

President William Ruto opened a pandora's box last week when he ordered a crackdown on foreigners engaging in small-scale businesses that Kenyans were engaged in, giving the latter competition and depriving them of jobs.

The result of that proclamation was clear yesterday: Dr Ruto's deadline for foreign traders to quit. Some Kenyans took matters into their own hands; they warned the mostly Burundian petty traders, harassed and looted their businesses. Ruto's warning and the reaction of some of the ordinary Kenyans sent panic across the community, forcing majority of them to seek refuge at the Burundi Embassy in Nairobi, hoping to be facilitated to return home safely.

Although Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Singoei sought to calm the diplomatic temperatures, stating that Ruto's comments were misunderstood, the damage wrought by the President's remarks had been done, and it did not stop matters from deteriorating as witnessed yesterday.

The President, advertently or inadvertently, had lit a fire that could take Kenya the South Africa way, in the process shredding our reputation as a country that is friendly with foreigners. The seed of xenophobia has been planted in Kenya.

Kenya need not look far for a cautionary example. South Africa's periodic bouts of violence against foreign traders have left innocent people dead and businesses destroyed, achieving nothing beyond national embarrassment and diplomatic fallout.

But that is not to say that Kenya has no immigration problems. Reports over the years have documented cases of undocumented migrants, particularly from Somalia, entering the country irregularly, acquiring Kenyan identity documents fraudulently, and establishing businesses that compete unfairly with those of citizens who operate within the law. There have also been reports of the same people and Sudanese warlords being given Kenyan passports that they use to travel the world. These are issues that the President should be training his guns on.

In addition, while the EAC's protocols on free movement and trade are real and should be honoured, we should start asking ourselves whether it is in order to give unrestricted to all and sundry, including street hawkers. It is notable that Kenyan authorities have for years struggled, with limited success, to clear hawkers from city streets in the name of order and public safety. It is difficult to reconcile that enforcement posture with tolerance for undocumented foreign traders occupying the same pavements. Today, we even host petty traders from as far as the Far East. Something doesn't sound right on this, but the answer is not to order an overnight crackdown on the foreigners.