Ruto's UN reform push faces scrutiny

President William Ruto used his address to the United Nations General Assembly to demand greater African representation in global governance and a fairer international financial system, but back home his message has been overshadowed by questions over the size and cost of the Kenyan delegation accompanying him to New York.

Seven Cabinet Secretaries travelled with the President to the 81st UN General Assembly, with some unable to appear before the Senate to respond to questions on matters affecting their ministries.

The absence of the Cabinet Secretaries has fuelled a fresh debate over the cost and frequency of presidential foreign travel, reviving concerns that have followed President Ruto since he took office in 2022.

The debate comes as Ruto tells the world that the international system must change, arguing that institutions created after the Second World War no longer reflect present-day realities and that developing countries continue to bear disproportionate financial costs.

In his address on Wednesday, Ruto linked the reform of global institutions to Africa’s position in the world economy, arguing that the continent must have a greater say in decisions affecting global peace, security, finance and development.

“Every nation is sovereign and equal under the Charter. Yet on the gravest questions of war and peace, five nations possess a permanent power that the other 188 do not,” he said, referring to the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.

He argued that Africa’s 54 nations account for more than a quarter of the UN General Assembly but have no permanent seat on the Security Council.

“The world has transformed. The Council has not. We cannot manage transformation with institutions that refuse to transform themselves,” Ruto said.

He said the reform process had been under discussion for 17 years, noting that the General Assembly moved the process into intergovernmental negotiations in 2008, with formal negotiations beginning the following year.

Ruto urged countries to implement commitments in the 2024 Pact for the Future, which recognises addressing the historical injustice against Africa as a priority in Security Council reform.

“What was possible then is possible again,” he said, recalling the expansion of the Security Council from 11 to 15 members in 1963.

His call for a bigger African voice extended beyond the UN to the institutions that govern global finance.

Ruto cited global public debt of $102 trillion in 2024 and said developing countries, despite accounting for less than a third of that debt, paid about $1 trillion in interest during the year.

He said 46 developing countries now spend more on interest payments than on health or education.

“Behind these numbers lies a simple reality: The hospital competes with the creditor. The classroom competes with debt service. And too often, the creditor, debt service, is paid first,” he said.

Ruto argued that high borrowing costs were restricting investment in developing countries and called for greater access to long-term financing, guarantees and risk-sharing mechanisms.

He also criticised sovereign credit-rating systems, saying developing countries often borrow at rates two to four times higher than developed economies.

The President further called for greater African participation in institutions governing global finance.

“Africa’s 54 nations are home to nearly one in every five people on Earth, yet our influence in the institutions that govern global finance remains disproportionately small,” he said.

“If Africa has a stake in the burden, Africa must have a share in the decisions.”

But Ruto also challenged African countries to look inward, arguing that the continent must mobilise more of its own resources instead of relying primarily on external financing.

He said Africa has more than $4 trillion held across pensions, insurance funds, sovereign wealth funds and banks, which could be mobilised to finance development.

“Africa does not come to plead. We come with a proposal,” he said.

Ruto also pushed for an economic shift away from exporting raw materials and towards processing and manufacturing within Africa.

“Africa’s resources must become the beginning of African industry, not the end of Africa’s contribution to the value chain. Extraction defined too much of our past. Investment must underpin our future,” he said.

He pointed to the African Continental Free Trade Area and the continent’s market of more than 1.5 billion people as opportunities for African countries to produce more of the goods they currently import.

Ruto also announced that Kenya expects to break ground within a week on the proposed East Africa refinery in Lamu, saying the project would have a processing capacity of 700,000 barrels of oil per day and attract an estimated investment of $16 billion.

“Its significance extends beyond one project or one country. It represents the Africa we seek to build: adding value at home, creating jobs for our people, and building industries capable of serving continental and global markets,” he said.

At home, however, the President’s reform message has coincided with renewed scrutiny over the cost of government travel.

Consumer Federation of Kenya secretary-general Stephen Mutoro questioned whether the size of the delegation was consistent with the President’s calls for greater transparency and responsible use of public resources.

“Only a failed state runs itself on autopilot while the Cabinet goes on tour,” Mutoro said.

He questioned the cost of air tickets, hotels, per diems and other expenses associated with the delegation, arguing that the money could instead support essential services.

The size of the delegation also became an issue in the Senate on Wednesday after Speaker Amason Kingi informed senators that three Cabinet Secretaries expected to appear before the House were in New York with the President.

The CSs for Education Julius Ogamba, Mining and Blue Economy Hassan Joho, and ICT William Kabogo were unavailable, leaving Youth Affairs CS Salim Mvurya as the only one of four Cabinet Secretaries scheduled to appear.

Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale questioned why seven Cabinet Secretaries were travelling with the President.

“Kenya is not a failed state where seven Cabinet Secretaries can accompany the President to the United Nations General Assembly and the responsibility that they are going to discharge is to sit in the background when the President is reading a statement,” Khalwale said.

He said the delegation had implications for both the running of government and public finances, citing air tickets, security and other expenses.

The criticism was countered by Tana River Senator Danson Mungatana, who said Cabinet Secretaries accompanying the President had official assignments beyond attending his address.

Mungatana said ministers used such trips to hold bilateral meetings, negotiate agreements and undertake other engagements with their counterparts.

At the UN, Ruto ended his case for reform with an appeal for a system in which power does not determine whose voice matters.

“Not a United Nations of some nations. Not a system in which power determines whose voice matters. But a United Nations worthy of its name, where every nation has a voice, every people has a stake, and every child has a future,” he said.