Diplomatic gaffes: How Ruto's premature, provocative declarations are eroding Kenya's credibility

President William Ruto’s series of embarrassing diplomatic gaffes went a notch higher during his State visit to Tanzania after the host president distanced herself from his audacious proclamations.

He was forced to offer an explanation to MPs in Dodoma on Tuesday, after President Samia Suluhu asked him to explain his assertion that an oil refinery would be constructed in the coastal town of Tanga.

Ruto made the remarks in Nairobi during the opening of the Africa Infrastructure Summit, which was hosted by the Africa Finance Corporation.

At the meeting, Ruto said Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan and Tanzania had struck a deal to establish the Tanga refinery in Tanzania. Suluhu maintained she was not aware of the deal.

At a joint press conference in Dodoma on Monday, Suluhu revealed that she had reprimanded Ruto for announcing plans for the Tanga refinery without consulting her first, while maintaining that she did not know about the joint project.

She said that she did not know the joint Tanga Oil Refinery that President  Ruto had announced two weeks earlier at the infrastructure forum in Nairobi.

"While we were speaking inside, I pressed President Ruto and asked him: “You went ahead and announced a refinery in Tanga, which I wasn't aware of. You will explain yourself why you made that announcement,” she said.

Ruto was forced to clarify that the proposal was not a unilateral decision but part of wider regional discussions on industrialisation with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, focusing on the use of local resources to develop the East African region.

"Allow me to explain our discussion on Tanga as a place of refinery. I have been informed that my decision to announce the building of a refinery in Tanga has not sat well with you, Tanzanians. If I knew, I would have announced that a refinery would be built in Mombasa," Ruto said.

 In Nairobi, former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua accused Ruto of making Kenya a pariah state through repeated diplomatic goofs, even as he labelled him ‘a leader who exports lies’ to the neighbouring country.

“Internationally, we are very embarrassed, but the embarrassment of the Kenyan nation is bigger in Tanzania. President William Ruto has launched fake projects here in Kenya; he keeps on seeing projects that do not exist. He has become so bold that he is announcing a non-existent project in a neighbouring country,” Gachagua said.

He added: “It is so embarrassing to our country that a President from Kenya goes to Tanzania to announce that there will be a project in Tanga for an oil refinery when the President of that country is not aware of such a project.

“That is impunity, he has lied to Kenya so much that he has no qualms about going to lie to the people of Tanzania. How do you announce a non-existent project even when the President of that country is complaining?” asked Gachagua.

Critics argue that Kenya's actions contradict the longstanding principle of the AU, which forbids interference in the internal affairs of member states.

"Interfering in another country's governance is akin to sponsoring an alternative administration, which is both inappropriate and destabilising," Prof Macharia Munene, a professor of international relations at the United States International University.

This is the second dispute that has arisen between Kenya and Tanzania following Ruto’s pronouncements that analysts termed ‘reckless which risks the country’s ties with her neighbors.

On April 21, while justifying the increased fuel prices in the Kenyan market, Ruto claimed Kenyan neighbours are the least developed countries, and that was why the cost was lower in those countries.

 Ruto said Kenya has more kilometres of tarmacked roads than all other East African Community (EAC) countries combined and that the country’s economic standing and infrastructure development should only be compared with other middle-income economies.

"Kenya is a middle-income country; our neighbours are the least developed countries. There is a big difference. If you want to compare Kenya fairly with others, compare Kenya with other middle-income countries,” he said.

He added: “We have 20,000 kilometres of tarmac to maintain and we have 6,000 kilometers of tarmac under construction. The 20,000 kilometres to maintain is actually the same for the other six or seven East African countries. If you add the number of kilometres in Uganda, Tanzania, DRC, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan, it is not 20,000…our 20,000 kilometres is more than all the tarmac in all the other seven countries in the EAC- that is what we are maintaining,” he said.

“The 6,000km we are constructing now in Kenya is equivalent to all the tarmacs in the neighbouring country, which has been built for 60 years,” added Ruto.

Ruto’s claims were not taken kindly by Tanzania’s Minister for Works, Abdallah Ulega, who dismissed the claims, terming them misleading and demeaning to the President Samia Suluhu-led nation.

“Let it be known that Tanzania is also a middle-income economy. And in East Africa, we are only two, us and Kenya. Tanzania has a total of 16,000 kilometres of tarmac, both in the urban and rural areas. These neighbours have 6,100 KM. If you take our 16000 KM plus 6100, you will get about 22000 plus, and therefore the claims to demean all the other EAC countries aren’t justified,” said Ruto.

He faced another significant backlash two weeks ago after accusing Nigerians that they have a hard-to-understand English that needed a translator, remarks suggesting Nigerian-accented English was incomprehensible, comments that fueled an online cyber rivalry between the two nations, forcing Nigeria's Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Henry Dele Alake, to respond to Ruto that Nigerians spoke good English.

Ruto had boasted about how Kenya's education system was producing some of the best human capital in the world, with strong English proficiency.

"We speak some of the best English in the world, that is true. If you listen to a Nigerian speaking, you don't know what they are saying. You need a translator even when they are speaking English."

The Nigerian Minister told Ruto during a mining conference in Nairobi that “the people of Nigeria have mandated me to inform and assure you that Nigerians speak good English."

These incidents, often termed "shocking" by critics, include premature policy changes on Sahrawi, handling of regional conflicts, and contentious comments during foreign trips.

Kenya’s involvement with Sudan’s conflict and the camaraderie with the sanctioned leaders of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group currently fighting the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), strained Kenya-Khartoum relations, leading to trade and passport bans by the Sudanese administration.

The Sudanese government accuses Ruto of "dangerous and irresponsible" interference after Kenya hosted meetings for the RSF leaders, including allowing them to discuss forming a parallel government in Nairobi last year. 

As a result of Ruto’s involvement with RSF leaders, Sudan banned Kenya's exports, with local industries holding products worth billions of shillings destined following the neighbouring country's protest against Kenya's dalliance with the RSF.

In February last year, RSF and its allies in Nairobi and the parties signed an agreement for the formation of the Founding Alliance for Sudan, which reportedly plans to establish a parallel government to the current regime led by the army.

Shortly after, Sudan's Foreign Affairs ministry recalled the ambassador to Kenya, and this has now been followed up by a ban on Kenyan imports. 

When he ascended to the Presidency in September 2022, Ruto made his first diplomatic blunder when he hurried a decision to cut ties with the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).

The President, before retracting, had announced that Kenya had revoked its recognition of the SADR as an independent state in favour of the Kingdom of Morocco.

He announced the radical measure after a meeting with Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, who had delivered King Mahamed VI’s goodwill message to Ruto as he ascended to the presidency.

Ruto said he would initiate steps to wind down the country’s presence in Nairobi, a directive which shocked many after President Brahim Ghali of the Sahrawi attended Ruto’s inauguration.

“Kenya rescinds its recognition of the SADR and initiates steps to wind down the entity’s presence in the country,” Ruto said in a tweet.

Opposition leaders led by Wiper Patriotic Front (WPF) leader Kalonzo Musyoka, who once served as a Foreign Minister, accused Ruto of making Kenya a pariah state and making it lose its status as a bastion of peace and regional stability.

He accused Ruto’s administration of ruining the status of integration within the East African Community (EAC) within the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).

Kalonzo said some decisions, such as allowing Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia leaders to hold a meeting in Nairobi, were a diplomatic blunder and were against the cardinal principle of non-interference of the internal affairs of other countries, including neighbouring countries.

He raised suspicion that diamonds from Sudan were being traded through disguised rules of origin to be seen as Kenyan in the Arab world market.

“It is terrible. This is illegal under international law. It is blood money we are dealing with, and the regime has completely lost it,” the former Foreign Affairs Minister said.