President Kenyatta received by his host Magufuli during his private visit to Chato on July 5, 2019. Photo/PSCU.
CHATO, Tanzania, Jul 7 – President Uhuru Kenyatta and his host President John Magufuli have vowed to deal firmly with insecurity saying they will not spare anyone involved in cross-border crimes.
The two leaders said citizens of either country will be subject to the laws of the country where they commit the crime.
“If a person (Tanzanian) commits a crime in Kenya, they will be subjected to Kenyan law. And if a Kenyan commits a crime in Tanzania, they will be dealt with in accordance with our laws,” President Magufuli said.
“We want to instill discipline so that our people can do business freely. We’ve been elected by the people for the purpose of helping them develop their economies,” he added.
President Kenyatta was in Tanzania on a private visit said that as leaders, they will do everything possible to insulate peace loving East Africans going about their business from the actions of a few misguided people especially those engaged in terrorist activities.
“We want to ensure that we have peace. We know a majority of our people are good. They want to do business, to travel and to farm. But we are also practical, we know that there are bad people amongst us, we will deal with those ones firmly,” the Kenyan leader said.
He added: “We won’t spare and won’t have time for terrorists who think they can continue playing with the lives of our people.”
The Heads of State who spoke on the last day of President Kenyatta’s two-day private visit to Tanzania further agreed to establish a natural gas trade arrangement between the neighboring countries.
They tasked ministers responsible for energy in respective countries to explore mechanisms for the natural gas trade including infrastructure and policy requirements.
Tanzania holds 57 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves, a resource the country has been utilizing largely for electric power generation but plans are underway to start exporting to international markets.
President Magufuli said his country is looking at Kenya as a potential market for its natural gas and called on the two governments to speed up the trade arrangement.
“We have natural gas, a lot of gas. We know Kenya needs gas. Instead of Kenya importing gas from outside East Africa, they should buy from here,” President Magufuli said.
The two leaders further resolved to revamp ferry services on Lake Victoria saying regular maritime travel between Kisumu, Mwanza, Bukoba and other ports on Africa’s largest lake will help create employment, enhance connectivity and spur related economic activities.
During his visit, President Kenyatta visited the ailing Mama Suzana Magufuli at her home where he prayed for her quick recovery. Mama Suzana is the mother of President John Magufuli.
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