Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa visited President Uhuru Kenyatta at the State House in Nairobi on Wednesday March 9th, 2022.


During the visit, both leaders signed some bilateral agreements that are expected to boost investments and development in both countries.
According to reports by local media, Kenya and Zimbabwe signed memoranda of understanding (MoU) on the following: tourism and wildlife consultation, civil aircraft accidents and serious incident investigations, political and diplomatic consultations, cooperative and sports recreational activities, women empowerment, community development and youth affairs.
While commenting on the outcome of the visit, the Zimbabwean leader said: “we affirmed the need for cooperation with bilateral commitment at global levels to deal with pandemics of this nature now and in the future. Both Zimbabwe and Kenya are committed to enhance cooperation towards mitigating the adverse effects of climate change and other environmental issues”.

Meanwhile, President Uhuru Kenyatta used the occasion to urge Western nations to consider lifting the many economic sanctions that were imposed on the Southern Africa country under Robert Mugabe. As he argued, these sanctions are partly responsible for the myriad of economic challenges the country has been grappling with for many years.

“And this we consider to be unfair for these hardships were artificially created and we continue to call on the international community to remove these illegal sanctions,” President Kenyatta argued.

Recall that some EU countries, the United Kingdom and the United States of America imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe back in 2002 after late President Robert Mugabe allegedly rigged a presidential election.
Do note that the current Zimbabwean President (i.e., Emmerson) was the Vice President under Mugabe. And this, perhaps, explains why the West has refused to lift the economic sanctions on the country years after Mugabe's toppling and demise.

As a matter of fact, the US had in 2021 extended some of the sanctions. The EU also argued that there has been little to no improvements in the Southern African country. And this is why the sanctions are still in place.
Kenya's Uhuru Kenyatta is not the first African public figure that have publicly called on the West to remove the sanctions against Zimbabwe. In the past, the African Union (AU) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have tried to no avail.