The election of President John Magufuli into office in Tanzania has really caused a lot of excitement in the region. His no nonsense approach to issues of governance and service delivery to the public has endeared him to the masses not only in Tanzania but also in other countries in the region… I suspect the hash tag ‘what would Magufuli do’ was actually coined in Kenya! His style of leadership is still causing ripples across the world with many articles and opinions in diverse media coming up all over…some in praise and others castigating him.

Whereas I know almost every sector of the Tanzanian public service is keen to keep up with the speed, in this article I wish to address myself to what the ongoing Immigration crack down means to corporates doing business in Tanzania. It is important from the onset to separate facts from fiction. Tanzania is not expelling foreigners, the Immigration authorities are enforcing the law by apprehending those in the country unlawfully. It is common practice world over for Immigration authorities to ensure that non citizens residing in their countries do so within the law. Unfortunately, the issue of illegal immigration is as old as the world and can not just be wished away. That said, let us then ask ourselves what does this mean to companies operating in Tanzania? Well my simple answer is that it will not be business as usual. It will be tougher to deploy foreign workers into Tanzania because as we speak the issuance of short term work authorization commonly referred to as Conducting a Temporary Assignment’(CTA)’ has been stopped. This is not because the president just ordered but because that is the Law! So all the president has ordered is the strict enforcement of the law.

In every global conference I have attended and made presentation on the practice of Immigration in Africa and Kenya in particular, I have been asked the question about the mixed signals immigration authorities send when it comes to enforcement and my answer has always been that if you want to be always right and sure that the status you have is the correct one, always stick to the law as written even though as practiced may be slightly different. on the Tanzanian CTA issue, I have consulted a friend of Mine, Davis Nyaga, who is both a qualified lawyer and experienced Immigration professional and he tells me that the Tanzania Immigration Law does not actually provide for a CTA!

All foreign workers are required to apply for work applicable residence permits in Tanzania to be able to work.

If this is the case then, it will now follow that the speed of deploying expatriates to Tanzania will be affected. Businesses will have to rethink their mobility plans and strategize on how to go about this in addition to hiring more locals who are qualified to do such jobs. This coming at the beginning of he year will cause a lot of headache to multinationals with operations in Tanzania but laws are laws. I believe with proper guidance from professional Immigration service providers with understanding of Tanzania Immigration practice, such companies will eventually make some headways…..what would Magufuli do….. Well, I am not sure!

As the year 2016 makes its baby steps, my mind has been wandering and wondering a lot about a few fundamental issues in life. Many a times when I read various articles or pieces of writings, be they news items or just individual opinions on blogs, I am left wondering which way is the best way living in this world? As a Christian, I must admit that the one book in the Bible that I never tire of reading and rereading is Ecclesiastes. Those of you that have read this book in the Bible will most likely agree that it is thought a provoking piece that is very philosophical….at times it even makes me doubt the meaning of Christianity….makes me want to resign to destiny but again therein lies the very reason I still believe.
I know different scholars, philosophers, theologians, lawyers….well and all of us anyway, have defined life-based on various bases…religion, ethics, morality, law, culture…and so forth. This year, as early as it is, I am trying to engage my mind on understanding life. A lot of the time, we see life from our own lenses and stand points. Within Christianity itself, there are major differences…even more of sibling rivalry if you like. Followers of certain denominations or churches feel more ‘saved’ and heavenly that others! In fact crusaders and preachers are more focused on getting more followers from other churches rather than from the streets or ‘sinful’ places….like brothels, strip clubs or those places ‘za ajabu’ ( ratchety places). On a wider scale, some religions feel more heaven-bound than the others…some races superior than others just as some tribes feel more forward-looking than others. I remember growing in a situation where among the Ameru community some sub-tribes were looked down by others….unfortunately or fortunately as it turned out for me, I happen to come from the sub tribe considered the least among the Ameru sub tribes…never mind or feel pity on me because this never put me down at any given time. I never found the need to change my tongue as many of my tribes men did while in the company of our colleagues from the ‘superior’ sub tribes. I always stuck with my funny dialect as it sounded….wasn’t easy though!
Sorry I digress from my main topic… about issues of morality, ethics, religion, law…etc. The thing is in my close to 40 years on this earth, I have met people who are very religious yet very corrupt, arrogant and as bad as bad can be. Still on this earth I have met folks who don’t believe in a God or god but the nicest fellows ever. Well, it is also true that I have met very many religious and decent people who take their religious orientation seriously… I have also met many folks who don’t believe in any religious and sure enough as evil and terrible people to be around as hell.
This has led me to some basic conclusion: good or bad people cut across all religions, ethical bases as well as races, class, tribes….or any manner of dichotomy you can imagine of… well this year, whatever your creed, religion, race, gender… I believe you can purpose to do good….just being a little more mindful of the next person and with that, the world will be a better place for all of us. I really don’t care what you believe in but if that which you believe in makes trouble for another person, then it cannot be a good thing you are doing. I want to use the Mandera incidence where some Muslims stood against evil to protect innocent non-Muslims ( I don’t know whether everybody who was not Muslim was a Christian in that bus) from being massacred in cold blood by the al-shabaab attackers. I can bet at that time whether one was a pastor or even the pope, the main thing was survival and lifesaving….which was achieved. Whether the Muslims were following their religious tenets or morality the bottom line is that they did a good thing and made the world better.
As a country, Kenya, if we took a moment to reflect on the impact of our actions to the rest of the society, then we can have fewer incidences of corruption cases, theft of public resources among other evils bedeviling our society. I am imaging in that Mandera bus there must be one person who raised the first voice to say that everybody in the bus was a Muslim then others followed….in our own small ways we can surely change the world and turn the tide.
Happy New Year 2016 and may you choose to do good this year.

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 16,000 times in 2015. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 6 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

I have received numerous queries about this the PR process. Today I had a chat with the head of PR section at Kenya Immigration and can now confirm the following:

1. The process is on but the government is not in a hurry because they have to do due diligence before issuing PR.
2. In order to apply for PR, it is assumed that such a person MUST have resided in Kenya temporary…it is then that you can apply for PR. This therefore means that either one is on a dependent pass or a work permit before applying for a PR.
3. There are many brokers (lone wolfs mostly) in town who will promise you that they can get your PR in a record time! be careful with such people because they are most likely going to mess your file with fake documents…this might cause you real trouble with the law….just follow the proper channels or look for credible firms to help with the process. It might be a bit slow and costly but worth every penny.

The atrocities committed in Paris by merchants of death are sad and unexplainable by any person in any language… to say it is sad would be an understatement. No words can really explain the intensity of the evil unleashed on innocent civilians going about their business in that beautiful city. My heart bleeds every time I see those clips on TV of people on the streets bleeding, hurting and others hanging on window sills trying to save their lives.

I saw the breaking news of the attack first on Sky news from my room at the Radisson Blu Hotel Edwardian near Heathrow Airport where I was spending the night before catching a flight to Nairobi. I had just finished attending the Fragomen EMEA Immigration Conference in Edinburgh Scotland where issues of the Syrian Refugees were discussed . I must say these news really scared me and I became paranoid and started wondering what next. That the perpetrators of this evil were migrants in France really made me think about Immigration and terrorism.

Kenya has had fair share of similar and even worse attacks than what happened in Paris. The Garissa University attack is one such attack…in fact the attack at the Battaclan Theatre was so similar to the Garissa and West gate attacks in the manner and motive. These perverts were out to unleash death in the most terrifying way possible. Unfortunately they did…and the global media as usual helped them to advance this course. Well, there has been a debate as to whether media should cover terror attacks real time and as wide scale as we have seen. On one side, the media in their role of informing the public need to do this…on the other hand, it is a known fact that when terrorists attack, they intend to maximize on the media coverage as much as possible. Some people have argued that media and terrorism are strange bedfellows…this debate will never end any time soon.

According to the global Terrorism Index 2014, which is … “a comprehensive study that accounts for the direct and indirect impact of terrorism in 162 countries in terms of lives lost, injuries, property damage and the psychological after-effects of terrorism in 99.6 percent of the world population…” (p.12). In total there have been over 48,000 terrorist incidents over the last 14 years claiming over 107,000 lives. Terrorism has increased dramatically with even conservative estimates suggesting a fivefold surge since the year 2000. This report further says that “Terrorism is a global phenomenon and in 2013 attacks were carried out in 87 countries with 60 of these experiencing deaths from terrorism” (p.12). Out of the 162 countries covered in this report, Africa had two countries in the top ten, eight countries in top twenty and twenty countries in top fifty. Kenya is ranked number twelve with a score of 6.58 with the West gate terror attack in the list of 20 worst terror attacks of the year 2013 globally at number eight with 72 fatalities and 201 injuries (GTI 2014, p.10)

According to Cinoglu (2013), “The relationship between migration and security concepts has regained its importance after the events of post September 11. The fact that the perpetrators of the attacks were foreigners has left question marks in the minds as to the effectiveness of the border security and migration control systems” (p.1) The role of Immigration agencies in combating terrorism globally has come in focus since then. Whenever acts of terrorism occur in any given country, citizens and other security agencies would look into the role that immigration and border security agencies may have in it. Cinoglu (2013) further posits that due to its trans-border and trans-national characteristics, international terrorism has been viewed as an issue closely linked to international migration.

This probably explains why Kenya Immigration was put into sharp focus and scrutiny by various agencies, including the Kenyan parliament. According to the report of the joint committees of Kenya National assembly that looked into this issue…“There is nationwide systemic failure on the part of the Immigration Services Department… attributed to corruption at the border control points and registration centers, mainly in Nairobi, Coast and North Eastern areas”( KNA 2014)

I read this report ( I have critiqued it elsewhere) and was not convinced at all on these findings because the report itself looked to me a lot more like a concoction of some sort…no wonder the National Assembly rejected this report on the floor of the house. However, we can not entirely ignore the centrality of global immigration practice in combating terrorism.

As Europe grapples with the issue of Syrian refugees, the revelation that some of the Paris attackers may have entered Europe as refugees complicates the situation more. I must admit that as a Kenyan I was really NOT surprised because that is the same narrative we have here. Refugee camps have been the recruiting grounds for Al Shabab…the Garissa University attack was blamed on terrorists masquerading as refugees as well. When I served in the United Nations In Liberia, the Liberian government kept raising same claims about Ivorian refugees in Liberia as the people behind some attacks in that country.

The truth of the matter is that refugees can be a real threat to global security… this is not to mean that we close our borders to genuine refugees but screening of these people needs to be scaled up. I know the issue of refugee rights and human rights have been raised, but in my view there are enough examples across the globe of instances where refugees or to put it in a better way, terrorists disguised as refugees have wrecked havoc to the communities hosting them like in Kenya, Liberia and now France.

I saw Governor Jeb Bush on CNN saying that the US has one of the most thorough screening mechanism for refugees that takes almost a year for an asylum seeker to be accepted as a refugee in the US. In my view, As long as during the process these people are accorded humane abode and basic human needs, I would agree with this model of processing refugees.

The world has become global and so has crime. It is now easier for criminals to communicate and operate. Unfortunately the same drivers of modern society are the same used by the evil doers to harm the society.

The topic on terrorism is very sensitive and as many people as there are in the world today will have different views on this topic but we must keep the discourse live and see how it goes.

Almost one year ago, December 2014, I made my trip to Houston Texas… I shared my experiences here. As fate would have it, this year, the Fragomen Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) conference was planned to be held in Edinburgh Scotland. My boss informed me that I would be a panelist in the conference to present about Immigration practice in Kenya. I was obviously excited for several reasons: one I had never been to Europe before and two I was going to present on a topic I know and love very much.
As usual, I was nervous about the UK visa process. Many questions kept ringing in my mind; what if my visa is rejected? What if I get the visa but denied entry?…what if…so many times. Thankfully, with good guidance of my colleagues in our London office, I made the application and submitted to the Tele performance Visa center, luckily my neighbors on the same floor in 9 west in Westlands Nairobi. After two weeks I got a mail that my visa was ready for collection and I got it.
As is normal when traveling to a place I haven’t been before, I first Googled Edinburgh Scotland to find out a few things that would help me in packing for the trip. The weather, I was told was going to be very cold so I was to dress warmly. This time round I flew aboard British Airways…well before I get into the flight; let me tell you my airport experience. I met this Kenya Airport official who I showed my boarding pass…ushered in but not before putting all my stuff through the scanner….of course my shoes and belt and so forth…luckily, I met a guy I knew from my four years of working at the same airport in my earlier life…that made my life through screening a bit bearable…anyway in a good way.
The Swissport inspectors were the next guys…here I had a nice chat with the chaps as they inspected my bag…a joke here and there on how I was carrying maize floor for my ugali in Europe and that I had a few miraa twigs for my baite friends in the UK! Never mind because none of that was true anyway. These guys were amiable and I was done and went to wrap my bag then dropped my check in bag and proceeded to immigration control. Unlike the last time I travelled, this time round there were no departure cards to be filled. I checked for the counter to go and before I could decide, I saw a colleague I had worked with at Immigration and was indeed excited to meet them and exchange a few niceties…was done I a few minutes. To be very honest I was happy with the service.
I had checked in early to avoid last minutes situations…I am very bad with adrenaline…not my fault…blame where I was born. Eventually our boarding time came and we again went through about three screening points before we could board…no complains. I would rather board almost naked but get to my destination safely…in this time of terrorism we are so willing to be searched and re-searched to make sure that we are clean to board the vessel.
At around 11 PM Kenyan time we board the plane in readiness for London and off we go…well not before someone with a very heavy British accent gave us the normal safety guidelines should something go wrong while high up there… I think it is either the guy had heavy accent or my ears are only accustomed to the Kenyan English because on a scale of 10 I heard about 7! One thing I observed with the BA cabin crew, people serving are normal…I mean they do not starve so that they can work as cabin crew…they are like me and you: short, tall, thin, medium sized and even plus size depending on your eyesight. Anyway, the trip was smooth and I slept after having some snacks they call food on the plane…next time I am awoken by the crew to put my sit upright as we prepared to land at Heathrow Airport Terminal 3…again very heavy British accent but anyway I struggle to hear.
Unlike Jomo Kenyatta Airport where you can walk from one terminal to the other, at Heathrow from terminal 3 to 5 is about ten minutes in a bus…but I can’t forget my experience with the UK Border officers. When I worked at JKIA, most of the people I served kept complaining of how slow and crowded the place was….now what I saw at Heathrow was really another thing all together… the UK border officers were profiling each and every person with no Hurry in London kind of attitude…anyway we queued patiently and ultimately got before this guy who asked me the usual why and what? The good thing is when I told him that I had been an Immigration officer and did what he was doing for almost 10 years he was excited and relaxed…and off I went. I had to run to catch my flight because the gates were now almost closing….well not before I boarded….off to Edinburgh.
The weather in Edinburgh was really cold…about 7 degrees Celsius…was dressed like a moving wardrobe anyway so no worries. I followed the signs and surprisingly found my luggage ready then picked a cab and went to the hotel…I must say the sight of this ancient yet very modern city really mesmerized me… I saw trams side by side with buses and cars and all was running smoothly. I was very amused considering the chaos in Nairobi where cars, motor bikes carts, donkeys compete for space…I got to the hotel and was impressed by the nice architecture of this city…any way I get a room at the beautiful Waldorf Hotel Caledonian right at the heart of the city overlooking the beautiful city and castles at the hill… I am so jetlagged and I had to sleep….
Well….see you when I wake up.
Watch out for the next episode.

In most of the cases when people talk of Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs), they look at taxation regimes, the ease of registering companies, the legal regimes in terms of the courts systems, security and many other parameters, Immigration is rarely mentioned. However, as they settle in, the reality of the relevance of immigration processes sink in.

I have been privileged to attend two meetings of the German Business Association (GBA) in Kenya to welcome the incoming Ambassadors. First in 2013 and another one yesterday. In the first meeting I was still working with Kenya Immigration…my boss and I were given a lot of recognition and even sat on the same table with the ambassador. Little did I know it was because of the concerns that German businesses in Kenya had on the Kenya immigration processes and the hope that we could provide instant coffee kind of solutions.

In yesterday’s meeting, I attended as a GBA member courtesy of my employer, Fragomen Kenya Ltd and not a lot of excitement as we were eager to listen to the new ambassador. In the meeting the challenges of getting work permits and delays experienced were again raised and the Ambassador addressed her self to it too…not surprisingly, GBA had a complain about how its employees in Kenya applying for German Visas were also facing challenges! It then dawned on me that this issue of Immigration is both ways…the developed countries feeling that the processes in our country are a bit slow and not very transparent…and we from the developing countries feeling that the developed countries make us go through hell to get their visas….

As I sat there listening, it dawned on me that indeed immigration is critical in the world today as people tot the globe trying to make ends meet and therefore can not be ignored when looking at the ease of doing business or investing in a country that is not your own…. That is why I was not shocked when some Kenyans were deported for being in Somalia illegally! I know you may want to say who in their right senses would even want to be in Somalia any way…but the truth is that there are so many Kenyans in Somalia doing business and creating wealth….and many others may be not as investors but doing whatever they are doing there.

Immigration is one of the number one concern for any one crossing the boundaries of their country towards another….in fact the ability to control who enters and resides in a country is one sign of territorial integrity/sovereignty… and any country, however chaotic or funny it might seem….should be respected and their immigration controls respected…. I remember my years as a border control officer and I can tell you it feels good when it is only through your authority that non Kenyans can enter Kenya! It is that powerful…but we must also balance between regulation and facilitation…. So that we do not hurt ourselves.

In today’s Daily Nation, back page, the chair of Parliamentary committee on education in the Kenyan Parliament ( National Assembly) The Hon Sabina Chege is quoted accusing the police of aiding and abetting malpractices in the ongoing national exams! In a quick rejoinder, the police spin doctor Charles Owino, trashes the allegations and advises her to report the issues to Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission ( EACC)

The Hon Chege goes further to say that dishonesty in our society is to blame for all this…parents buying phones for their children…then buying the leaked exams and marking schemes then sending the same to them on WhatsApp, Facebook, twitter etc! Then come January or February when exams are released and such cheats come tops of their class and their very ‘proud’parents are all over the media hugging their ‘hard working’ children….and thanking God for a blessing! Even going to church to do a thanksgiving and testifying to the whole congregation.

Frankly speaking I am not surprised at all…. Kenya has sunk to levels that no amount of preaching can redeem us. The fact that fraudsters and thieves are our heroes and leaders then we can only get worse. The argument by the police spokes person that police have been good custodians of exams since times in memorial too does not hold much water….yes there were days that decent and honest policemen and women existed but not any longer. Almost every person I know that gets recruited into the police force has either paid their way into the force or were taken by a powerful person in government…there is nothing like fair hiring into the force. It would be ridiculous for us to expect that products of such a system will think twice before snapping at exam papers and sending to candidates…however, I must say that I do not have the facts that the Hon Chege had to make the allegations she did but I can bet that in her position she would have intel to back up her claims.

We are a country that celebrates people that get rich through theft of public funds, kids that get A grades through cheating….and did you not see the incidence on Sunday Stanchart Marathon where someone wanted to steal into the second position live on TV? On the political scene we always hear claims of stolen elections….yet we accept and move on.

In our universities today, majority of those graduating with Masters and PhDs are having their works done by hirelings and then presenting to the examiners, who are themselves by products of the same and eventually conferred with the powers to steal…sorry to read!

All this reminds me of a song…hii ni system ya majambazi!( This is thuggish system) I think it must have been by Mashifta!wherever you turn, scandals: Eurobond,NYS, Parliament, El-nino…..wheelbarrows, gates, curtains….all bought or done at inflated prices…we are outdoing each other at it….

I thought the church would help out but with the Prophets Dr Kanyaris of this world then we can only pray that some miracle will happen….in the meantime…you find your position and try to change things if you think it is possible because together we can change our society.

This is Africa…so goes the saying. To the uninitiated, this is mainly used when someone wants to justify something that would not ordinarily pass for anything sensible or worth for the 21st century.
As I write this article, two occurrences in Africa…sorry three…oops its more…ring in my mind. In Kenya, our economy is on the brink of precipice… and the man in charge of the National treasury is telling us stories to reassure the casualty as they say in first aid 101. Like a good doctor, he dare not tell us we are so sick that surviving would require an African bush doctor or Pastor Dr….somebody! Another incidence is the ongoing gibberish about who fixed who in the ICC…while the real victims of the 2007/2008 post-election violence continue to languish in IDP camps across the country. I don’t wish to go into the merits of these noises but the way the political shenanigans are excited about this whole circus can only portend some not so nice moments for this country in the near future…if it is not stopped.
Not so far away towards the south, our good friends and neighbors, in Zambia have declared a national day of prayer to pray for the weakening currency and economy! Now…I must declare that I am a good Christian and very prayerful…but my crystal balls tell me that this is not how to resuscitate an ailing economy. Prayers are good but then we must do what must be done on the fiscal and monetary front to rejuvenate the economy.
In Uganda, it is political season again and the good old Dr.Kisa Besijye is at it again… well he has high affinity to being arrested by the Ugandan police for disturbing the peace! I saw him arrested recently for leaving his house….Poor old man. How is he supposed to campaign for votes without leaving his house?! May be our bloggers can help him out but his worthy competitor may not take that kindly as well.
In Rwanda, President Kagame is going for the 3rd term in office after the people of that country amended the term limit…did I hear that only one MP was opposed to the move? Anyway, I can bet he will win the term with a landslide….Burundi is trying to settle down after the contested elections. In Guinea, President Alpha Conde has just won round one of elections while in Tanzania the battle is heating up between the ruling party and the formidable opposition.
The lunatics in Burkina Faso have just been edged out of town and are now facing justice…as warring factions in South Sudan continue to duel and toss the skeletons of dead citizens around…the peace accord is just a piece of paper it was written on! And we continue to watch as people continue to die in that country….
If I continue telling you the story of Africa, the cows will have to come home! So let me stop here but one thing that we must keep asking: what is the problem with our continent?
Most of the time we keep blaming our leaders…as if they just dropped from hell while the truth is that we have been fueling this gravy train that is poor leadership in Africa through our prejudices based on ethnicity, tribalism, religion….among others. The big question is: when will this rain stop beating us?
Anyway….happy heroes day in Kenya. I hope the real heroes will be feted this year.

I am in the process of writing my Thesis proposal. In order to gather as much materials as possible, I am reading far and wide  from different materials by different scholars and agencies. This fishing expedition saw me dig into different reports of the Kenya National Assembly Committees. One such report is the one  by the Joint Committee on Administration and National Security and Defence and Foreign Relations on The Inquiry into the West gate terrorist Attack and other terror attacks in Mandera in North Eastern and Kilifi in the coastal Region (http://info.mzalendo.com/media_root/file_archive/REPORT_OF_THE_COMMITTEE_ON_WESTGATE_ATTACK_-_4.pdf)

This report was rejected by the whole house due to other issues but not on its structure. Although the report raises weighty matters and even makes wide reaching recommendations,  I dare say it is lacking in basic rules of academic writing. Yes it is not academic but being such a serious document of the National Assembly, my assumption is that it would show some efforts in simple things like citations and referencing. for example, it attempts to define terrorism but does not tell us according to who! It also gives information that is clearly lifted from some source like other reports or books but still does not acknowledge the source…..I may be out of order or stranger to the house but quite frankly I believe that reports of Parliaments should be well done so that anybody looking at them for scholarly or any other purpose has confidence when referring to them. yes, the MPs may not have to do this but I believe there are people paid by parliament to be secretariats to such committees and the onus is on such people to make sure that the reports conform to basic writing rules…..why would such a report assume that they can just lift information or definitions any how without acknowledging that someone did come up with such definitions or figures they are quoting? Is it fine for this to happen?

Well, I do not know but my view is that, YES: parliamentary reports too should conform to basic writing rules….plagiarism is not  a preserve of the academic world alone! it is universal and covers all forms of writing…may be except fiction…but in that too you can not copy another person’s writing and present is as your own! That is theft reloaded folks!

What is your take?