The National Assembly’s Committee on Regional Integration has urged a reset in Kenya-Tanzania diplomatic relations, warning that stewing tensions that threaten the East African Community’s (EAC) vision of shared prosperity. Amid recent trade disputes and high-profile deportations, MPs stress that only renewed cooperation can sustain regional growth.

Kenya and Tanzania once led EAC integration from a common currency board in 1919 to a revived customs union in 2005. Yet, border disputes over livestock, chickens and visa regimes have frayed ties in recent years. Activists’ arrests and claims of torture in Dar es Salaam further eroded trust.

In a 12-page report, the parliamentary committee calls for:

• Regular high-level dialogues to defuse trade barriers.
• Joint commissions on agriculture and transport infrastructure.
• Harmonised visa and customs procedures to boost cross-border movement.
• Enhanced EAC Secretariat funding to override individual state defaults.

MPs argue that reviving Kenya-Tanzania diplomatic relations will revive investor confidence and unlock stalled projects such as the Standard Gauge Railway link to Dar es Salaam. They recommend leveraging the EAC’s common market to deepen industrial value chains in coffee, tourism and manufacturing, ensuring the bloc’s 300 million citizens benefit equitably. 

As Kenya rotates into the EAC chairmanship, lawmakers say now is the moment to heal old wounds and uphold the promise of East African integration. This will strengthened diplomatic and economic ties between Kenya and Tanzania. They also concluded that the diplomatic and economic ties are not optional but essential to safeguard regional unity and shared prosperity in East African Community. By Vincent Olando, KDRTV