Popular Tanzanian pastor Daniel Ngogo has sensationally claimed that the only person one can trust in Kenya is a dead man or woman in a casket - in a sermon that has since gone viral. 

Speaking at Deliverance Church in Utawala, Mgogo claimed that Kenyans were a cunning lot and were feared by most Tanzanians. He joked that at birth, the level of the craftiness of any citizen at birth is at par with that of a Tanzanian in Form Six.

The man of cloth added that the devious nature of Kenyans makes them distrust their fellow countrymen, not even in death and even this could not be guaranteed. 

"In Kenya, nobody can be trusted. The only person you can trust is a corpse lying in a coffin, and even so, it cannot be given 100 per cent benefit of the doubt and that is why bodies of the deceased are often guarded," he stated

"The suspicion is that maybe the person in the coffin may have just fainted or could be playing dead and was waiting for the perfect time to wake up and steal from us," he added.

Pastor Mgogo explained that the high level of cunningness and distrust was detrimental to Kenyans, and was the reason behind them electing bad leaders every five years. He noted that in the citizen's eyes, every leader, including the good ones has ulterior motives.

"In Kenya, everyone perceives that anyone around them is a thief and that is why even as you head for the General Election, you sharply criticize better leaders on that premise that they may be "hiding something", and end up electing actual thieves," he remarked.

He added that the people from East Africa's silicon valley, no matter how good, often fell victim to the need for vengeance at the expense of their own well being. In the case of elections, they may end up voting for bad leaders to punish others and end up suffering instead.

Kenya and Tanzania, despite being neighbours and major trading partners, have stark cultural differences that sometimes escalate to tense diplomatic relations.

The genesis of the differences goes back to the 1960s when Tanzania, under President Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, opted for socialism through the Ujamaa programme. Kenya, on the other hand, went for capitalism which was supported by founding President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta. 

At one time, Nyerere took a swipe at the Kenyan system, terming it a philosophy that was creating a man-eat-man society.  

Kenya's Attorney General at the time, Charles Njonjo, a strong defender of capitalism, retorted that Tanzania was a man-eat-nothing society. 

The stark conflict in state affairs slowly created suspicions between the citizens of both countries, although to a limited extent as many of them continue to interact and intermarry - particularly in the border towns. By Paul Kurgat, Kenyans.co.ke