US envoy on investment, terror alerts, Ukraine war

You have served in various roles, such as the US Ambassador to the African Union and as the permanent representative to the Economic Commission for Africa. What have been the highlights of these roles?

The biggest highlight was that we were able to craft for the first time a document that constituted an agreement between the US government and the African Union. Previously, the US and AU had functioned in an ad hoc fashion, where things were not within principle. We were able to come up with a memorandum of understanding and cooperation, which allowed the US government to be able to invest tremendously in the African Union.

How has US foreign policy evolved over the years as other global powers such as China and India gain more influence in Africa while the US seems to be losing ground?

Your premise is that the US has lost ground. The US has not lost ground on the African continent. We remain the largest contributor to development in Africa. What has happened is that we have understood that there is a necessity for a philosophical shift in our relationship with the African continent and that trade and investment are more important than simply giving money. This trend started back when Obama was in office, and Biden is continuing the same trend. The notion is that Africa must be a strategic partner with the US. As a strategic partner, you have to get away from this notion of “giver and dependent.” You have to have people come together at the table as partners, working together collaboratively and intentionally, and that is the focus that the US has taken.

Some people look at us and say we have moved back in the sense of not building infrastructure. We have done a lot in that area. What we do not do, however, is stand out and brag about it. I wish we did brag, because we should tell the story. We have spent more money on the African continent in healthcare than any other single nation on the planet. No nation or group of nations will ever exceed America’s commitment to Africa.

Tell us some of your mission’s priority areas in Tanzania. What are you bringing to the table?

This is the best time in the world to work in Tanzania. I will give you two reasons: one is because President Samia has a commitment to the goals of investment and trade and a commitment to the wellbeing of the people of Tanzania in terms of healthcare, which is very consistent with what I bring to the table; a desire to partner with her, the government of Tanzania, and its people to expand trade opportunities. No government, not the US or Tanzania, can, by itself, hire all the well-educated people in its nation. So, we have to create a space for private enterprise and investment.

No other place in East Africa has the capacity to be a trade hub for the whole region, including the Indian Ocean and transnational trade and investment. Tanzania is blessed with great ports; it has a fertile land base for agriculture; and most of all, it has human resources. Tanzanian people have learned the secret of how to live in peace with each other, where you don’t have these big divides about religion, tribe, or ethnicity. Tanzanians have embraced the unity of Julius Nyerere—one people, one nation, united in freedom.

The idea of Tanzania being a trade and economic hub in the region has only existed in rhetoric and the abstract. When does it become a reality?

Jean Ping, who used to be Chair of the African Union Commission, once said: What Africa needs, and what, in this case, Tanzania can appreciate, is that its potential and capacity must be in harmony. So, we have to try to work with Tanzania to lift the capacity to the point of its potential. There is no question about political will. Tanzania has the political will to become a major force in international business. But we have to help it build that capacity.

How do you plan to enhance relations with the private sector?

The strategy is to learn from Tanzanian businesses. What is it that they feel we can give them as an added value? There are a lot of wealthy Tanzanians who invest money in different parts of the world. We want to encourage them to partner with us in investing that money in Tanzania. The best solution is to work from government to government, people to people, and industry to industry.

Dual citizenship is seen as an obstacle to wealthy Tanzanians in the diaspora investing in their country of origin. What is your opinion on that?

One of the things that Tanzania is discovering is that in order to be the leader that it wants to be in the EAC, its trade regulations will have to be modernised; they will have to be in sync with the capacity of a person coming to Kenya and doing business in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda simultaneously. For Tanzania to reach that part, the leadership will have to rustle with how to get harmony with its trade regulations and the rest of East Africa. There shouldn’t be one set of regulations in Kenya, another in Tanzania, and a different one in Uganda.

How is the US prepared to tap into the potential of the AfCFTA?

President Biden is coming back to the notion that you cannot and should not want to have exclusive bilateral relationships with a continent that sees itself emerging into multilateral relationships. If the African continent perceived itself as being a combination exclusive of 55 bilateral entities by itself, then bilateral to bilateral is the only way to go, but the African continent models its vision 2063 after the European Union, not after the United States of Africa. In the EU, you have trade that goes throughout the continent, where one is able to travel and trade from one country to another without having to go through these different regulations. That’s where our focus is now: on understanding the advantages of multilateralism. We are fully on board to see every element of Africa 2063 materialise.

The war in Ukraine has impacted Africa and Tanzania in particular. This is happening on the US’ watch as a global superpower. Have appropriate measures been taken to address the challenge?

Nyerere always said a nation has a right to control its own destiny. That its sovereignty rests in the hands of the people. What Russia has done is motivated by jealousy and envy. Russia saw Ukraine as having the largest nuclear power production capacity in Europe; Ukraine was producing more wheat and more food than most of its neighbours; Ukraine was the bread basket for the region. Putin got jealous and decided it was time to bring Ukraine back to the former state where it was a part of the old Soviet republic. The war in Ukraine is hideous, it is evil, and it is motivated by arrogance and excessive greed on the part of Putin.

The US has tried to help Ukraine defend itself and maintain its sovereignty and independence. And we will continue to do that.

What is your view on Tanzania’s neutrality in the war in Ukraine?

Tanzania has a philosophical position that is non-aligned. It chooses not to take a side. We will continue to encourage Tanzania to see that, in this particular instance, sitting on the sidelines is less advantageous than standing up for sovereignty, freedom, and independence. We understand Tanzania’s position and why it has a sense of non-alignment, but we are trying, through dialogue whenever there’s a difference in opinion, to persuade and encourage Tanzania that the UN needs your vote, and we need your vote. But we do understand Tanzania’s desire to have its own integrity in terms of its non-alignment position. However, our friendship with Tanzania will not cease based on a vote at the UN.

Recent security alerts issued by the US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya have evoked mixed sentiments. How do you cooperate with the government before and after issuing such alerts?

Before we issue any kind of statement, we try to verify and validate the degree of danger and threat. We do that not only with our own sources but also in collaboration with the Tanzanian intelligence apparatus and police, and then we communicate with the Tanzanian government. I made it a personal commitment to Minister Tax; I told her that I would always inform her in an open and transparent manner and always collaborate with her and the Foreign Ministry whenever any kind of alert emerges.

The reason we issue alerts is that we want to protect people’s safety. Not just the safety of American people, but the safety of Tanzania itself.

Why then does the government often condemn the alerts, suggesting they are not consulted?

We have had and will continue to have proper communication channels. But what we will do better, however, is that we will make sure that there is direct communication from the highest level of American presence in Tanzania and foreign affairs. So, we will communicate better and more directly, but we will continue to issue alerts whenever we think that there is something that might happen that may cause damage to us and anybody else here in Tanzania.

At the end of your tenure, how would you want your leadership in Tanzania to be defined?

I would want my time here in Tanzania to be defined by free and open trade and investment while helping to strengthen Tanzania’s own capacity to move toward greater democratic space.