More gains than risks from visa plan
What you need to know:
Western media have always psyched the Africans to view their next-door neighbours with suspicion.
The language barriers have created artificial obstacles for Africans who are not willing to cross to their neighbouring countries.
Third, Africans still suffer from colonial influence of divide and rule, hence they don’t trust one another.
The government’s decision to waive strict visa requirements for the citizens of other African countries came as a surprise to many considering both security and economic implications.
Security appears to be the main public concern. While this concern is genuine, it will not be as serious it is being perceived by many, if we put in place proactive security measures.
What Kenya has done is timely, considering the many economic and social benefits associated with this move on visa.
Indeed, there are more opportunities than threats to this. Unfortunately, these opportunities have always been missed for three main reasons.
One, the Western media have always psyched the Africans to view their next-door neighbours with suspicion.
LANGUAGE BARRIER
Second, the language barriers (both indigenous and international) have created artificial obstacles for Africans who are not willing to cross to their neighbouring countries.
A citizen of Mozambique will, for instance, fear to venture out and exploit business opportunities in neighbouring Tanzania and will instead look at the former colonial master, Portugal, and make all the efforts possible to be in contact with Lisbon as opposed to Dar es Salaam.
Third, Africans still suffer from colonial influence of divide and rule, hence they don’t trust one another. A French speaker from eastern Africa is more comfortable with another from West Africa and not an English language speaker from East Africa. With its proposed visa rule, Kenya will help to break these barriers.
RESERVATIONS
There are reservations precisely over security considerations. The main concern is whether the security organs, and in particular, the Immigration and the police are up to the task of welcoming visitors from the entire continent in a seamless manner.
This will be a challenge at the beginning, but in the long run, this can be addressed if the government organs will be willing to streamline any security shortcomings as they get into the new arrangement.
The police will have a bigger task of changing how they do business with the rest of Africans. To be precise, we are talking of integrity.
How do we address these concerns? First, we need to streamline the Immigration and security requirements to accommodate the new directive.
Secondly, Kenya needs to map out security risks that may emanate from visitors from various regions.
SECURITY RISK
The biggest security risks expected from West Africa, for instance, might include organised crime involving narcotics, fake money and cybercrime. For the Horn of Africa, the focus may be on terrorism, small arms proliferation and human trafficking.
As for central and southern Africa, the emphasis will be the flow of illegal migrants from the Horn of Africa to the south using Kenya as a transit point and a possible conduit for smuggling of game trophies to the Far East through this country. There are many potential benefits from this directive. African countries are building strong middle classes whose members want to advance education, or wish to have a second home outside their country of birth. Some might even wish to travel abroad for tourism and medical visits.
It has increasingly become difficult for Africans to travel abroad. It is almost impossible to travel to Europe and North America.
VETTING
Africans undergo a humiliating vetting process when travelling to these countries and the Middle East. Kenya can be the best substitute.
Many poor African countries are rich in precious minerals. International smugglers have taken advantage of this to ferry precious minerals to Europe and Asia.
By opening our doors to our fellow Africans, Nairobi can become the Antwerp or Tel Aviv of Africa. With the above conducive environment, we can foresee Kenya filling the void as Africa’s preferred destination for economic and social needs.
SECURITY
Kenya must have proper inter-agency coordination as security will become a serious immediate challenge when implementing the directive.
Besides security needs, the country might be forced to allocate more funds to the budget of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by establishing more missions within the other African countries.
Failure to do this might end up hampering this otherwise noble idea.
Mr Mbarak is a retired military officer and a certified security management professional. [email protected]
