Ruto: Is he the new Pan-African ideologue or just playing political showbiz?

Whatever the state, Ruto is slowly becoming the African Diplomat.

Dr Ruto, nine months into his presidency, is effortlessly reawakening the pan-Africanism dream, that ebbed with the deaths of Ghana's President Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba of Congo, now DRC, Thomas Sankara of Burkin Faso, Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, Nelson Mandela of South Africa and the late Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi.

As he preaches for the Pan-Africanism renaissance, Ruto has been talking tough, taking on the Western world and its institutions. Pundits believe that on the Pan-African front, Ruto was achieving high scores.

Political Analyst Martin Wandati notes that Ruto had managed to effortlessly jump-start again the African dream that was being pursued by the late Gaddafi.

"Ruto has come out very well in championing for Africa and it seems that his speeches resonate well with the continent and beyond if the speech in Paris is anything to go by. The late Tanzanian President John Pombe Magufuli was another Pan Africanist buts not much travel did not allow him to be heard well like Ruto today," said Andati.

A day before the speech at the Eiffel Towe, Ruto had been bullish taking on the West and the Bretton Wood institutions in Europe, insisting that its relationship with Africa must shift.

In a round table meeting during the Global Financial Pact Summit in Paris, France, the President called for a re-engineering of the engagement between the West, and the international financial institutions to make them more responsive to the needs of Africa.

Ruto also shared a podium with French President Emmanuel Macron, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, and President of the World Bank Group Ajay Banga at the ongoing New Global Financial Pact Summit.

He said Africa can no longer be seen as just a continent that needs help but as a partner, adding that the globe cannot continue talking normally when things are not going forward.

Done differently

At one point, there was a back-and-forth exchange between Ruto and Macron as the president insisted things had to be done differently.

President Ruto said the new financial order will help the world overcome poverty and climate change, noting that the financial architecture must be of equals. He said resources should neither be controlled by the World Bank nor the IMF.

"Africa does not want anything for free. But we need a new global financial model where power is not in the hands of a few," he added that the move will ensure "we all have fair access to resources".

President William Ruto (C) his Deputy Rigathi Gachagua (R) and the European Commission Executive Vice-President and European Union Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis at State House, Nairobi. [PCS, Standard]

But naysayers have argued that Ruto's policies on foreign affairs are interesting if not confusing simply because the Western envoys were cosy with the State House when the President's Ruto speeches were advocating for de-dollarisation. "Ruto has done everything asked of him by IMF and World Bank by taxing Kenyans to death, removing subsidies but on the world stage, he is against the financial system embodied by those Bretton Woods institutions," wrote a Kenyan on Twitter, Kachwanya.

He argued that when Russian troops moved to Ukraine, the Kenyan ambassador to the UN condemned Russia with a speech that brought tears to NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) and Ukraine supporters' eyes, but then when Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov came to Kenya recently, he was treated like a rock star.

He noted that two days ago, Russia got support from Kenya through Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Dr Alfred Mutua in his tweet condemning mutiny in the country.

"I have just spoken to Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov about the current news of attacks by a mercenary group. He has updated me on the situation and informed me that the Russian government is in control and "everything will be fine". I have told him of our concern and wish," tweeted Dr Mutua.

The Kenyan on Twitter wondered if any other member of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South African (BRICS) nations did that, especially the public support part.

On Climate change, a source who sort anonymity wondered if Ruto's talk on the international podiums resonated with what was happening in the country. "There is the big talk about climate change, but just recently the government has gazetted a number of forest lands." President William Ruto also revealed that African leaders are sometimes forced to attend international meetings in foreign powerful countries because of blackmail.

Speaking at the Pan-African Parliament Summit on Climate Policy and Equity in South Africa, Ruto lamented that African leaders are usually forced to attend global meetings even when there isn't any meaningful outcome.