Ugandan Pan-Africanists have warned Kenyan President William Samoei Ruto over what they described as emerging signs of xenophobia against fellow East Africans in parts of urban Kenya, saying the trend is inconsistent with the spirit of East African integration.
In a media post shared on Tuesday, September 8th, 2026, Pan-Africanist analyst Mike Mukula said Uganda’s position as a Pan-African nation remains firm, noting that the country hosts over 1.2 million South Sudanese alongside hundreds of thousands of Congolese, Burundians, Rwandans, Somalis, Eritreans, Ethiopians, Kenyans, Nigerians and other African nationalities.
“Uganda is a Pan-african nation. Our message is clear: no African nationality should be victimised simply because of where they come from. Never,” Mukula said.
He said that under President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, Uganda has consistently championed African solidarity, regional integration, and peaceful coexistence, adding that Pan-Africanism remains a central ideological principle of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) and an essential foundation of the East African Community integration project.
According to Mukula, Uganda believes in the free and orderly movement of people, goods, services, and capital within the framework of regional laws and protocols, stating that it will continue to stand for the dignity of African brothers and sisters because Africa belongs to Africans.
“President William Ruto, my brother and good friend sir, the emerging signs of xenophobia against fellow East Africans in parts of urban Kenya are deeply concerning and inconsistent with the spirit of a modern, democratic and integrated East Africa,” Mukula noted.
He reminded regional leaders that the EAC framework is founded on the progressive free movement of people, goods, services and capital, and argued that where individuals are found to violate national immigration or other laws, enforcement should be orderly, lawful, humane and free from collective punishment or hostility towards any nationality.
Mukula urged the East African Community leadership to engage Kenya, Burundi and other partner states to urgently address the concerns through dialogue and established regional mechanisms.
He further appealed to the Government of Burundi to intensify measures addressing the serious economic pressures pushing some of its citizens to seek opportunities elsewhere in the region.
“Our region must choose cooperation over xenophobia, lawful enforcement over mob action, and economic integration over division. East Africans should never become strangers to one another in East Africa,” Mukula said.
The warning comes amid heightened online debates in Kenya regarding foreign nationals in Nairobi’s informal sector, a debate that has drawn reactions from across the region.
