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Tanzania told to issue statement on Kenya politician ‘xenophobic’ remarks

Dodoma. Speaker of Parliament Job Ndugai ordered the Government on Tuesday June 25  to promptly issue a statement on the safety of Tanzanians in Kenya after a Kenyan politician’s xenophobic remarks went viral on social media.

The remarks in a video are allegedly for Kenya’s Starehe Constituency lawmaker, Mr Charles Njagua Kanyi who is popularly known as Jaguar.

The video went viral on Tuesday in which the politician and singer is heard promoting "xenophobic" attacks against foreigners working and doing business in his country.

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“We are not talking about six Chinese nationals. We are talking of hundreds of foreigners who work here (Kenya). I give the government 24 hours to evict these foreigners lest I - being a representative of this area - go into their shops, beat them and send them all the way to the airport,” he says.

He says having done that, it will be the job of Mr Fred Matiang’i, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Security, and his team at the Immigration department to pick them from the airport to their home countries.

He says he would not want to see foreigners grabbing Kenyans’ jobs and business opportunities.

“…Kenyans must conduct their businesses without competing with people from other countries. Pakistanis are dominating the sale of vehicles in Nairobi….Tanzanians and Ugandans are dominating in our markets. We say enough is enough. If they are not sent home within 24 hours, we will pick and beat them and we do not fear anybody,” he says. 

But that did not go down well in the Parliament of the United Republic of Tanzania on Tuesday, June 25 with Mr Mohammed Mchengerwa (Rufiji-CCM), asking the Speaker’s guidance over the need for the government to issue a statement on the safety of Tanzanians who live, work and do business in Kenya.

In response, Mr Ndugai said though he had not seen the video, he was convinced that the government needed to issue a statement as a matter of urgency.

“I order the government to issue a statement before the close of business today,” said Mr Ndugai.

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