Deputy President William Ruto this week concluded a 10-day visit to Washington, DC and London, capitals of Kenya’s foremost traditional friends that are also important fulcrums for democracy - the United States of America and the United Kingdom. The trip has been a pivotal success for three primary reasons.
One, Dr Ruto has effectively used this twin visit to share and elucidate the foreign policy direction his administration would take. He did this with unambiguous clarity of mind and passion of heart, in his engagements with both state officials and premium think tanks like Carnegie and Chatham House.
While he assured Kenya’s global friends and partners that there would be no major shift in the country’s core foreign policy posture, he nonetheless underscored a shift in the manner of its deployment and the focus of its execution. His administration, he affirmed, would be a lot more creative and robust in engaging the world beyond Kenya’s borders, with a premium on commercial and economic diplomacy to accelerate the country’s growth in real terms and share prosperity within our immediate geopolitical neighbourhood and beyond.
The Deputy President reassured both the US and the UK that programmes such as Kenya’s respective bilateral strategic partnership with them would be guaranteed continuity.
Two, Dr Ruto drew attention to the special place Kenya holds as the anchor state in the East and Horn of Africa region, given the pivotal role the country plays in peace, security and stability and as a bulwark against radicalisation, violent extremism and terrorism.
He reminded the world that Kenya effectively plays this role due, principally, to relative stability underpinned by her pedigree as a constitutional democracy and a regional economic hub.
He was clear that this special status that includes Kenya being the only host to UN agencies in the global south should never be taken for granted and must, in fact, be guarded jealously, deliberately and robustly so.
Dr Ruto deftly joined the dots to the August 2022 elections, declaring it a crossroads moment that will determine whether Kenya consolidates her democratic gains under the revolutionary 2010 Constitution, or joins the league of the world’s regressing democracies. He amplified his commitment to defend the Constitution against short-sighted dismemberment that would roll back the country’s gains as a constitutional democracy.
The Deputy President also shared his vision for both political and economic inclusion as the ultimate panacea for the history of exclusion that breeds resentment, tensions and even violence. Forging national political parties like the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) as the building blocks for our democracy and broad-based coalitions such as Kenya Kwanza, while integrating the base of the Kenyan social pyramid into the economic mainstream through the bottom-up economic model, offers Kenya the route to sustaining the stability needed to maintain her anchor-state status.
Three, this visit has wiped out the politically woven myth that Dr Ruto had neither the contacts nor the profile to engage the international community beyond Kenya’s borders. Some even painted him as persona non grata, unwanted and unwelcome in the world’s top capitals. Well, that spin is now well and truly scattered to the four winds.
Dr Ruto did more than just board a flight to Washington, DC and London. He was warmly received by his multiple hosts, and in his usual confident, ebullient and robust fashion, he did not disappoint. The Deputy President wowed his hosts and audiences at every opportunity, both in private and public.
Dr Ruto engaged all the interlocutors he met in both Washington, DC and London with the confidence, knowledge and wit of your quintessential seasoned diplomat. From Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Mary Catherine Molly Phee at the State Department to the National Security Council (NSC) Senior Director for Africa Dana Banks at the White House in DC, from UK Minister for the Armed Forces James Heappey to Minister for Africa Vicky Ford at the Whitehall and some warm discourse at the House of Lords in London, there was no shade of doubt that Kenya’s global friends and partners would be at home with a William Ruto administration.
He oozed good understanding of issues and made unequivocal commitments to advance existing strategic partnerships, building on the shared values of constitutional democracy, civil liberties, human rights and free enterprise, and ties that have bound us through history.
Being quite familiar with these diplomatic circles, I found it particularly refreshing how Dr Ruto projected the collegiate face of his leadership by involving his delegation in the key discourses. Amani National Congress (ANC) and Kenya Kwanza Coalition partner Musalia Mudavadi was fully engaged, and provided telling insights on such crucial issues as prudent fiscal policy.
Other members of the delegation were equally involved. Of equal significance was the time the Deputy President accorded the Kenyan Diaspora, assuring them of substantive premium attention.
Hon Ababu-Terrah Namwamba, EGH, is the Head of International Relations at the WSR Presidential Campaign
