Ruto: Poverty, joblessness are the only enemies of Kenya and Tanzania

 

President William Ruto addresses Tanzania Parliament in Dodoma. [PCS]

Kenya and Tanzania remain allies united against poverty, joblessness and underdevelopment, President William Ruto has said, urging deeper integration that goes beyond policy frameworks.

“We have many enemies. And our enemies are not Kenyans nor Tanzanians, our enemies are lack of jobs and poverty,” Ruto said, framing economic hardship as the shared challenge binding the two neighbours.

Ruto made the remarks on Tuesday, while addressing the Parliament of Tanzania in Dodoma during a state visit, warning that mistrust between the two countries remained a bigger barrier to integration than infrastructure or policy gaps.

The two countries recorded bilateral trade of about $860 million (Sh111 billion) in 2025, with Ruto projecting it would cross $1 billion (Sh129 billion) before the end of 2026.

 He said current volumes reflected only a fraction of what the relationship could sustain.

Kenyan enterprises have invested more than $1.7 billion (Sh219 billion) in Tanzania across manufacturing, energy, logistics, financial services and agriculture.

Tanzanian investments in Kenya stand at over $336 million (Sh43 billion), with Ruto projecting that figure would more than double by year-end following recent capital inflows.

“What matters is not whether the asset is on one side of the border or the other. What matters is whether it strengthens our shared prosperity,” he noted.

He told lawmakers the two countries share a border stretching nearly 800km from Lunga Lunga and Horohoro on the Indian Ocean, through Kilimanjaro, across the Maasai Mara and Serengeti to Lake Victoria, describing it as a corridor of trade, culture and human exchange rather than a dividing line.

Ruto cited the annual wildebeest migration between Tanzania’s Serengeti and Kenya’s Maasai Mara as a natural argument against policy barriers.

“What nature has made seamless, policy must not make difficult,” he added.

He called for joint ventures and deeper private-sector linkages to drive growth, inviting Tanzania’s business community to invest alongside Kenyan counterparts in infrastructure, energy, and agriculture.

Ruto framed the East African Community integration push as a continuation of the bloc’s founding vision, noting its collapse in 1977 and re-establishment in 1999, built on shared history and shared purpose.