How Kenya should respond to Suluhu's ban on foreign traders

President William Ruto and Tanzania President Samia Suluhu during the 24th Ordinary Summit of EAC Heads of State in Arusha. [File, Standard]

There are moments in a nation’s life when it must choose between appearing strong and being wise. President Samia Suluhu’s recent decision to bar foreigners from operating small and medium-sized businesses in Tanzania is one such moment.

As a people living along a border drawn by colonial hands, we have long understood that economic reality is often more powerful than political decree. The livelihoods of border communities are interwoven by shared language, customs, bloodlines, and daily trade. We trade not as citizens of separate states, but as one people connected by history and necessity. Our cattle cross the hills without papers, our bananas follow the shortest route to market, and our children learn Kiswahili before they understand why their birth certificate carries one flag instead of another.