Ruto's global diplomacy: Boon or bust for Kenya's economy?

President William Ruto meets his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva at the sidelines of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on February 18, 2024. [PCS]

President William Ruto on Thursday hosted seven African heads of state recording the 40th Presidential meeting in Nairobi in less than 20 months.

President Ruto is also expected to host the Annual African Development Bank Summit from May 27  to 31st.

Since he was sworn in on September 13, 2022, President Ruto has been on a charm offensive. Hardly does a month pass without the country hosting a head of state.

On Thursday, President, Mohamed Ould Ghazouani (Islamic Republic of Mauritania), Haikande Hichilema (Zambia), Emmerson Mnangagwa (Zimbabwe), Lazarus Chakwera (Malawi), Faustin Touadera (CAR), Nangolo Mbumba (Namibia) and Prime Minister Cleophas Dlamini – Swaziland attended the closing session of the African Fertiliser and Soil Health Summit (AFSH) at the KICC, in Nairobi.

Others were Deputy Presidents of Equatorial Guinea, Burundi and Botswana alongside former Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and African Union Commission (AU) Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat.

The Mauritanian President was three weeks ago at the same venue together with 15 other heads of state for the International Development Association (IDA) summit.

Last year, Ruto who chairs the Committee of African Heads of States on Climate Change, hosted the first Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi last year.

During the conference, 24 heads of state from Africa and beyond attended the conference.

Other high-level delegations that attended included Pakistan President Arif Alvi, UN Secretary-General António Guterres, US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, former president of Ireland Mary Robinson, first Education Minister of Mozambique; co-founder of The Elders Graca Machel, among top bosses of USAID.

Western-centric administration

A month after the Climate Summit, Ruto hosted King Charles III and Queen Camilla in September for a four-day tour making Nairobi their first visit outside the United Kingdom after coronation.

Other dignitaries that have visited the country include the Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz, Sergio Mattarella (Italy), Joko Widodo(Indonesia), Klaus Iohannis (Romania, Ebrahim Raisi (Iran) and Japan Prime Minister Kishida Fumio.

Others leaders that Ruto has hosted in Nairobi include Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Petr Fiala (Czech Republic Prime Minister), and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Interestingly, whereas seen by some as running a Western-centric administration, Ruto has hosted Russian and Iranian senior officials and has also held talks with the Chinese government, and North Korea’s top honchos.

Months after hosting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Nairobi, Ruto held talks with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Prime Cabinet secretary Musalia Mudavadi in an earlier interview said Ruto has been very intentional in winning over the continent and the rest of the world for the benefits of Kenyans.

“Kenya started with East African Cooperation, the President is keen to have Africans to do trade with each other through the Africa Free Trade Area (AfTA),” said Mudavadi.

But as Ruto looks outside Kenya’s borders, questions have emerged about the economic impact of his forays and stardom through his speeches.

Kenya’s third president Mwai Kibaki had little traveling for a Head of State. Many have argued that it is during his time that his aloofness caused him to focus more on building the country economically.

In Tanzanian, late president John Pombe Magufuli had minimal travels deciding to utilise most funds on reviving his country’s economy.

Magufuli freezed his own travels overseas, stopped public officials from unnecessary travel, launched an anti-corruption move recovering proceeds of sleaze, ended deals with European and American corporates that had little benefit to his country. Tanzania is today a regional growing economy - recent World Bank projections place it at 5.2 per cent growth.

Political analyst Barrack Muluka argues that whereas the president’s forays were a good thing because Kenya was not living in isolation, Kenyans will have to wait to see if there will be accrued benefits.

“The impact will depend on whether in the charm offensive the president turns the country into a production economy as opposed to a consumer economy through wooing investors to produce from Kenya, but if we continue to be a consumer economy the impact will be small,” said Muluka.

According to Mudavadi, the economic benefits are inevitable noting that currently, the country is attracting 1.4 million tourists and reports indicate that with the Visa-free policy by 2027, it will grow the numbers to 4.5million, and noted that with President Ruto’s international charm offensive, Kenya will achieve it.

According to State House spokesman Hussein Mohamed, the visiting Heads of State and government are a vote of confidence in the country and a show of President Ruto’s charm offensive that has now put Kenya in a strategic position in the world.

“Today more than ever, Kenya is on the right trajectory in its geopolitics. Nairobi has become a home for the Heads of State. Some are reciprocating the gestures and the net benefits are immense,” said Hussein.

Bilateral agreements

“From Jobs, to business and geopolitics, Ruto has in the short period of his presidency made Kenya a global partner to many and today thousands of Kenyans can get employment in the diaspora while millions of tourists are picking Kenya as their destination of choice,” he added.

According to a report prepared by the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, the bilateral agreements would allow thousands of Kenyans to acquire jobs in foreign countries.

It noted that Kenya is likely to benefit from 500,000 jobs created through bilateral agreements with several countries through President Ruto’s trips across the world and the reciprocal visits to the country. 

Perhaps the international campaigns have an impact on the diaspora jobs given that the diaspora remittances reached Sh670 billion last year from Sh644 billion in 2022.

Political analyst Javas Bigambo said Ruto as a vision bearer for the country has been deliberate and intentional in his move to be the voice of the continent and especially in the climate change arena.

“Through his debut African Climate Change Summit, the continent bagged Sh23 billion from the development partners for climate change,” said Bigambo.

Bigambo said the United Nations offices in New York were relocating a significant number of its services and operations to Nairobi.

“In the next five years from now, UN is going to be holding critical UN security council meetings in Nairobi, with the continued strategic leadership, the city given its positioning could turn out to be the global magnet,” said Bigambo.