Crude pipeline confusion strains Kenya-Tanzania ties

Energy CS Charles Keter with principal secretary Joseph Njoroge and other officials after they arrived at Whitesands hotel last night from Tanga, Tanzania. PHOTO | LABAN WALLOGA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • “We are basically captives here. They have refused to give us back our passports for about one hour. They have also refused us entry into the Port of Tanga,” PS Kamau had earlier told the Smart Company in a telephone interview.
  • The two parallel meetings were held before the presidential meeting to ascertain the level of preparedness by either Tanzania or Kenya on the crude oil pipeline.
  • Ongoing discussions could thwart a deal mooted in October to have the crude oil pipeline constructed through Tanga. Uganda is bound to Tanzania by a MoU initiating a study on the Tanga route.

A rift between Kenya and Tanzania could widen following Uganda’s indecisive position on the $4 billion crude oil pipeline.

A week before the meeting between Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni and President Uhuru Kenyatta, energy officials from Uganda held parallel meetings on the matter with Tanzanians and Kenyans.

Kenya and Uganda officials held a week-long meeting at Laico Regency, Nairobi, under the Northern Corridor Integration Projects while Tanzanian energy officials met with their Ugandan counterparts in Kampala.

The two parallel meetings were held before the presidential meeting to ascertain the level of preparedness by either Tanzania or Kenya on the crude oil pipeline.

Kenyan and Ugandan officials led by President Museveni and Kenyatta then met at Kenya’s State House Monday last week to finalise the talks.

Frances’ Total, UK’s Tullow Oil and China’s CNOOC were part of the meeting, sending strong signals for the Hoima-Lokichar –Lamu route.

“President Uhuru Kenyatta today held fruitful discussions with Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni on the regional East Africa crude oil pipeline,” said a statement signed by Energy minister Charles Keter and his Uganda’s counterpart Irene Muloni.

Tanzania’s President John Pombe Magufuli, however, was not pleased with the proceedings of the Kenya-Uganda meeting. He demonstrated his frustration last week Wednesday by holding diplomatic passports of Kenyan energy officials, denying them entry into the Port of Tanga.

The team was on a tour to the Tanga Port acting on the presidential order to have all three ports — Tanga, Mombasa and Lamu — compared technically to inform in the final decision making.

Mr Keter and Petroleum PS Andrew Kamau, his Energy counterpart, Mr Joseph Njoroge and The Lamu Port Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (Lapsset) corridor CEO Sylvester Kasuku are the Kenyan crew denied entry into Tanga.

PASSPORT

“We had earlier made officials communications to Tanzanian foreign affairs of our visit and were granted access,” said an official privy to the ordeal.

“Things changed when we were received at the airport by government officials. Passports were submitted for clearance and took too long to come back. President Magufuli had given orders not to allow us in though our Ugandan counterparts went through.”

“We are basically captives here. They have refused to give us back our passports for about one hour. They have also refused us entry into the Port of Tanga,” PS Kamau had earlier told the Smart Company in a telephone interview.

Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) Executive Director James Mataragio, also recently announced that France had set aside $4 billion to begin construction of the Tanga pipeline by August and have it completed in two years.

“It is anticipated that over 200,000 tonnes of bare pipes, materials and equipment such as pipe insulation, pump, bulk heating and trace heating stations will be imported through Tanga port,” Mr Mataragio is quoted by Tanzania’s publication The Citizen.

Talks on the pipeline taking the Kenyan route are back on track and could be sealed soon, causing a blow to Tanzania.

Kenya together with Uganda is currently on a quest to settle on the least cost option for a regional integrated pipeline. Next week, the two countries will travel through Lamu to compare the infrastructure, terrain and elevations on the route with the Eldoret-Mombasa route and the Uganda-Tanga route. Tanzania officials have been invited for the tour.

Museveni and Kenyatta will thereafter in early April meet at the Northern Corridor Integration Projects Summit in Kampala with the view of settling on the prolonged $4billion crude oil pipeline route.

Ongoing discussions could thwart a deal mooted in October to have the crude oil pipeline constructed through Tanga. Uganda is bound to Tanzania by a MoU initiating a study on the Tanga route.

Further, this could worsen the shaky relationship between Tanzania and Kenya both in terms of trade and project relations. Tanzania –Kenya trade has not been at its peak with the former being accused of putting non-trade barriers on Kenyans including delay of work permits.

Data by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) in February states that Tanzania cut its imports from Kenya last year by Sh8 billion to Sh25.3 billion, signaling the worsening relationship between the two countries.

Uganda on the other hand is the largest buyer of Kenyan goods with imports standing at Sh60 billion by February. While Tanzania has not embraced the integration spirit in infrastructure projects along the Northern Corridor (where crude oil pipeline is a major project) Uganda is part of the bloc which consists of five members.