NAIROBI, Kenya – Prime Cabinet Secretary and Foreign Affairs CS Musalia Mudavadi has assured Parliament and the country that Kenya has no dispute with Uganda and remains firmly committed to regional peace, diplomacy and its international obligations to landlocked neighbours.
Appearing before the National Assembly plenary on Wednesday, Mudavadi dismissed claims circulating on social media and political forums that Uganda harbours intentions to “overrun Kenya and take the Indian Ocean.”
The concerns were raised by Suba South MP Caroli Omondi, who asked the PCS to clarify whether Nairobi had taken any steps to address the alleged threat.
“Mr Speaker, could the Prime Cabinet Secretary inform the House on what steps the government has taken to address the recent claims by Uganda that they want to overrun Kenya and take the Indian Ocean…,” Omondi asked, citing what he termed Uganda’s history of “military adventurism” in countries including South Sudan, the DRC, Rwanda, Somalia and Burundi.
But Mudavadi said the claims were unfounded and should not alarm the public.
“I just want to say that there are conventions and obligations which deal with landlocked countries, and the African Union Constitutive Act is one of such instruments,” he said. “So I want to assure you that we are not going to go to war. We as a country have always provided safe passage and free passage for goods from landlocked countries, and we are not about to change that. It is our international obligation, but also how we grow the bonds in our region.”
He emphasised that Kenya has consistently upheld international protocols guaranteeing ocean access for Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan—arrangements that have underpinned decades of trade and peaceful coexistence in the East African Community.
Mudavadi added that Kenya would not be drawn into “speculative or provocative” remarks, insisting that diplomacy and adherence to international law remain the pillars of the country’s foreign policy.
The otherwise tense exchange briefly shifted into humour when Omondi asked the PCS to guarantee MPs’ safety ahead of scheduled inter-parliamentary games in Uganda in two weeks.
Laughter broke out in the chamber before Mudavadi replied jokingly that legislators would be safe.
Speaker Moses Wetang’ula added that there was “no evidence to the contrary,” describing the MP’s question as “comic relief.”
The statements come days after Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni sparked debate with remarks made during a November 11 interview, where he criticised Africa’s colonial borders and argued that landlocked countries should have unhindered access to the Indian Ocean.
“How can you say you are in a block of flats and that the compound belongs only to the flats on the ground floor? The compound belongs to the whole block,” Museveni said.
He termed it “madness” for coastal countries alone to control ocean access, insisting: “My ocean is the Indian Ocean. It really belongs to me.”
Mudavadi’s remarks now appear aimed at calming rising public chatter and reaffirming Kenya’s position that there is no diplomatic or military dispute between Nairobi and Kampala.
