The Opposition Agenda: Dr Mukhisa Kituyi

Small-scale traders from neighbouring East African countries, some selling snacks on Nairobi's streets, suddenly found themselves targets. On Jeff Koinange Live, former UNCTAD Secretary-General Dr Mukhisa Kituyi did not hold back on who he believes is responsible.

There had been no spontaneous public uprising against immigrants in Kenya, he argued, nothing like the scenes from South Africa. The problem, in his view, began when President Ruto publicly declared that foreigners in small businesses should get out, and government officials then scrambled to reinterpret the remarks.

"Identity politics, us versus them, is a very cheap coin in politics," Kituyi said, warning that it has been used elsewhere with disastrous consequences, from the pogroms in Rwanda in the 1990s to the unrest hurting investment in South Africa today.

As a trade economist, he acknowledged that open borders can bring real pressures. But treaties already allow for emergency measures, he said, and governments can sit down and agree on them. Where numbers moving each way are roughly equal, as between Kenya and Uganda, there is no case at all. A blanket decree against low-income East Africans, he warned, puts at risk the many Kenyans who earn their living across the region, because Kenya is the leading exporter of services in the East African Community. Retaliation would be reciprocal.

He was equally sharp on process: "You cannot act on the basis of an anticipated legislation." The fact that ministers had to walk the president's words back the next day, he said, showed that nobody had thought it through.

It was a preview of the case Kituyi intends to make as the opposition sharpens its pitch for 2027, and a reminder that economic diplomacy can make or break Kenya's standing in the region.

Continue with Part 2 on Citizen TV.