Earlier this month, Kenya’s president told a gathering of small traders at State House that foreigners running hawking stalls and petty retail shops must close, and he promised legislation reserving such low-skilled, low-capital work for Kenyan citizens. Soon afterward, Burundians in Nairobi were queuing by the hundreds at their embassy for travel papers, afraid that they would be harassed or attacked once the crackdown began. William Ruto had by then also ordered Tata Chemicals to leave Lake Magadi, where the company has mined soda ash since 2005. Although Tata insists that it is fully compliant and awaits the ministry’s review, the president’s message to foreign investors could hardly have been clearer.
Africans Against Africans: The Xenophobia Nobody Reports
