The African Regional Organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa) has called on the Government of Kenya to ensure that measures to address the country’s economic challenges are lawful, proportionate and non-discriminatory.
In a statement signed by its General Secretary, Comrade Joel Odigie, ITUC-Africa expressed concern over recent remarks by Kenyan President William Ruto concerning foreign nationals engaged in small-scale trade in Kenya and measures announced against them.
On September 2, President Ruto directed action against foreigners involved in hawking and certain small businesses, arguing that such activities should be reserved for Kenyans.
According to the statement, the remarks have generated considerable anxiety among migrant communities.
It said reports indicated that hundreds of Burundians subsequently sought travel documents to return home, while some foreign nationals reported threats and growing hostility.
“For ITUC-Africa, this constitutes an early-warning alert. Political statements that distinguish Africans as unwanted ‘foreigners’, particularly in circumstances of unemployment and economic hardship, can quickly legitimise discrimination, profiling, harassment and ultimately violence,” Odigie said.
The ITUC-Africa General Secretary said Africa had witnessed enough episodes of xenophobia and Afrophobia to know that such rhetoric must never be treated lightly.
“We note the subsequent clarification by Kenya’s Foreign Affairs authorities that the President’s remarks should not be interpreted as a blanket prohibition on foreigners and that documented foreign nationals with the requisite permits and licences remain legally protected.
“This clarification is important. However, governments must recognise that once exclusionary rhetoric enters public discourse, its consequences cannot always be controlled through subsequent explanations,” he said.
Odigie said Kenya had every right to regulate employment, immigration and commercial activities and to protect workers and small enterprises from unlawful or unfair practices.
He, however, said economic hardship should not be attributed to nationality, adding that migrant workers and African traders should not become “convenient scapegoats” for structural problems of unemployment, inequality, informality and inadequate social protection.
The organisation, he said, was particularly concerned about what the President’s statement signalled for Africa’s continental integration agenda.
“The AfCFTA is founded on the ambition of creating a single African market, facilitating movement of persons, increasing intra-African trade and building an integrated and prosperous continent.
“Indeed, President Ruto himself recently argued that AfCFTA policies should make it easier—not harder—for micro, small and medium enterprises to participate in cross-border trade.
“Policies and rhetoric that encourage Africans to see one another primarily as economic threats run contrary to that Pan-African ambition.
“It is deeply regrettable when leaders respond to broad and sometimes unsubstantiated claims about foreigners by adopting language capable of driving Afrophobia.
“Governments should rely on evidence, enforce laws fairly and individually, and address abuses without criminalising or stigmatising entire communities.
“Africa is one. Africans must not become strangers to one another on their own continent,” he stressed.
Odigie emphasised that the future Africa seeks cannot be one in which goods and capital cross borders more easily than African workers, traders and families.
“ITUC-Africa therefore calls on the Government of Kenya to ensure that all enforcement measures are lawful, proportionate and non-discriminatory; protect migrant workers and traders from intimidation and violence; and reaffirm unequivocally Kenya’s commitment to Pan-African solidarity, regional integration and the AfCFTA,” he said.
