Xenophobia: Ruto, Ramaphosa have a new task

This week’s clashes between ethnic groups in Kitui and Garissa counties are disheartening, to say the least.  

Each time attacks take tribal, religious, or even political dimensions to an extent where people are killed, transport is disrupted, and businesses are looted, you know there’s a problem. Whose actions or inactions fired up the flare-ups? We need answers, and we need them swiftly. More troubling is that this isn’t an isolated episode.

The Kitui-Garissa tensions mirror South Africa, where xenophobic attacks have occurred over the past three weeks. We saw harrowing videos of migrants in Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal being beaten like a ‘burukenge’ in total disregard of human rights and international law. In one incident, victims leapt from the upper floors of a building to escape mobs baying for their blood. Reports say that Nigeria, Ghana, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Lesotho nationals have borne the brunt. Yet response from authorities has, at best, been slack. Despite assurances from South African police, investigations have yielded little beyond promises. The system is simply looking the other way!

Hard questions are being raised. How are Africans turning on fellow Africans when the continent is pushing for integration and dismantling of barriers to trade and movement? Why is this happening yet our elites gather regularly in Addis Ababa for African Union (AU) meetings to flaunt grand visions of connectivity, pipelines and mega highways while ‘kwa ground’ tells a different story?  

Well, South Africa hosts about three million migrants whom are mostly undocumented. But using crude methods to tame the effects has only but led to disastrous consequences, even deaths. This latest upsurge even prompted Ghana to summon South Africa’s ambassador amid rumbling diplomatic tensions. But again South Africa isn’t alone in the spotlight. Tunisia and Libya are big exit points for young Africans seeking greener pastures in Europe. Already, about 1,800 migrants have died in the central Mediterranean this year. Last year, 1,146 Africans died in under six months on same perilous journey.

For the record, citizens are fleeing their countries because misrule has suffocated opportunity. Impunity among the political class continues. Military takeovers, human rights abuse and the plunder of resources are the norm. Disillusioned Gen-Zs are now willing to risk death at sea to seek better life elsewhere.

It isn’t only the unemployed who are leaving. The AU says about 70,000 skilled professionals leave the continent each year. Still, discrimination against migrants isn’t always state-sanctioned. At times, it stems from a mere survival instinct among locals who protect jobs, resources and their security.

Whatever the drivers of migration, if these heartless attacks and deportations persist, they will undermine Africa’s ambitions of freer movement, expanded intra-African trade and shared economic agendas like what EU nations have. The ‘law of the jungle’ mentality will be costly for all of us.

While every country has a right to enforce its immigration laws, those who flout them should be dealt with in accordance with the law. Regional blocs such as the Economic Community of West African States, the East African Community, and the Southern African Development Community must take a stand against barbarity by host countries.

Equally troubling is the muted voice of AU, which should defend the rights and dignity of all Africans. These attacks send the dangerous message that even ‘outsiders’ with valid documentation are no longer safe.

The conspiracy of silence is eroding the very fabric of ‘black’ solidarity. Kenya hosts migrants from Sudan, DR Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Somalia, Ethiopia and beyond without subjecting them to discrimination. President Cyril Ramaphosa must ensure full accountability. Moreover, what happens in one nation can reverberate across the continent.

Also, migrants must respect laws of host countries. If everyone abandons their homeland in search of opportunity elsewhere, who will remain to build those struggling nations?

For Kenya, what happens in one county can easily spread to others. This is why President William Ruto should crack the whip and ensure those who allowed the Garissa and Kitui flare-ups carry their cross.

-The writer is a communications practitioner.