How William Ruto can balance foreign ambitions amid local backlash

After a brief lull, following the Gen Z protests against bad governance, President William Ruto is back in the skies, visiting China two weeks ago with other African leaders, and then quickly taking off to Germany this week.

Over the last two years, the president cultivated a high profile for himself and Kenya in Western capitals but does the same goodwill still prevail after the political turbulence that the country is now recovering from?

Researchers have argued that Ruto will now focus on winning hearts and minds abroad and at home, seeking support from domestic constituencies and for that reason, he has become two-faced.

Dr Karoline Eickhoff, a researcher at Megatrends Afrika and an Associate with the Africa and Middle East Research Division at SWP, took a close look at President Ruto’s foreign policy after recent political developments in the country.

She argues in her detailed paper that Ruto is operating in an increasingly multi-polar world, where divisions go beyond “domestic” and “international” pressures to include pushes and pulls from different international audiences whose expectations are at odds with each other.

And therein lies another challenge for Ruto because under such conditions, an opportunistic foreign policy approach is easily perceived as doublespeak.
But how much damage did the anti-Ruto protests do to his reputation as the custodian of Western interests on a continent that has witnessed a surge in anti-western political rhetoric in Sahel, Sudan and parts of the South African region? Is he still held with the same high esteem in Western capitals?

Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi, a member of the Defence, Intelligence and Foreign Relations Committee thinks the resumption of foreign trips is a wrong decision because he (the president) has not addressed issues raised by Gen Z and many other Kenyans who thought the government had learned it’s lessons.

He recounts the president holding an interview at State House and later having a meeting with Gen Z on X space, where he promised to cut spending and improve on governance issues but regrets that he is going back to his old habits. “You have seen him back globetrotting and also running up and down the country on car sunroofs giving new promises on top of other unfulfilled ones. One wonders why the president has not learned any lesson from the challenges he faced,” says Osotsi.

Economic reforms

Secondly, his view is that Ruto’s credibility received a big dent and the Kenya Kwanza government needed a serious public relations exercise globally as they also focused on the reforms that Gen Z were demanding at home before engaging the international community.

Kenyans have in the past demanded to be told tangible benefits the country has received from the many international trips Ruto has made in the short term since he took office.

The ODM MP wants the President to copy the example of President Kibaki who made only 30 trips in his two, 10-year presidential terms, as opposed to Ruto who made a record-breaking over 60 trips to 38 countries in 18 months.

“If you have a situation where the president is always outside the country when the economy is not doing well, then there is a serious problem. He needs to travel when it is very necessary and instead delegate other trips to CSs,” adds Osotsi.

After winning elections, President Ruto quickly engaged in a diplomatic charm offensive, with the backing of the US ambassador in Kenya Meg Whitman, a close confidant of US President Joe Biden, in the process wooing many Western countries.

He quickly became their darling on the continent, earning him and his delegations high-profile invitations to Western capitals and other places worldwide, including the State dinner at the White House in Washington DC and attending the G7 meeting in Rome.

Asked why the number of foreign trips became a big issue, foreign policy and political analyst Prof Macharia Munene acknowledged that some trips are necessary but says others are undoubtedly wasteful. “You have presidents who love to be in the air. Some trips are personal glorifications, not so much for the country,” he said in a recent interview.

Prof Peter Kagwanja, the director Africa Policy Institute also injects some perspective into Rutos’s travels, arguing that being the principal foreign affairs officer in the country, the president’s visits to friendly countries carry more weight than sending junior officials.

He posits that the president must make some travels because lower cadre officials may not be taken seriously by the hosts and it also adds more value in building foreign relations.

“It should be a balancing act where the number of trips are kept low but he at the same time, maximizes on his few visits to put a firm hand on those friendly countries. What we saw is that in 20 months, there were 62 trips in 38 countries and that is why many Kenyans asked questions,” said Kagwanja.

He contrasts the current situation of previous leaders like the first president Jomo Kenyatta who made only two or three trips in his 15 - year rule, leaving all the travelling to his deputy Daniel arap Moi, who visited almost every part of the world.
During Moi’s 24-year rule, he made most of the trips himself, while his successor Kibaki, balanced the trips between himself and his vice presidents, especially Kalonzo Musyoka after 2007.

“That is why Kalonzo’s portfolio is very strong on foreign affairs. Uhuru Kenyatta was a quintessential traveller who went to all major meetings like the G7 and others,” adds Kagwanja.

He thinks the biggest challenge facing Ruto is the gains Kenyans reap from his many foreign travels, particularly at this time when the country is operating on a shoestring budget.
Coupled with travels outside the country by many other public officers, especially MPs, Kenyans then continue questioning why such opulence is happening in a very constrained economy.

In her paper, Eickhoff writes that Kenya is perceived as in alignment with the West because of Ruto’s positions on selected global conflicts, including Haiti, Ukraine, and Gaza, and its cooperative stance towards the IMF.

She also contends that because of Kenya’s democratic credentials, green energy profile, and keen interest in European investment, European actors are willing to recognise her desire to play a more prominent role on the international stage, particularly in the field of climate diplomacy.

“In Africa, Ruto’s political proximity to US and European capitals, and thus Western political interests, appears to stand in the way of his ambitions to be recognised as a thought leader,” she argues adding that although African peers appreciate his emancipatory rhetoric, they criticise his positioning on global conflicts.