President William Ruto has significantly reduced his international travels over the past month due to the major upheavals in the country caused by anti-government and anti-tax demonstrations.
Previously, Ruto had not stayed in Kenya for three consecutive weeks, but he has now spent a month mostly at State House in Nairobi. Since June 18, when the unrest began, he has only made a few local trips to assess government projects and attended Sunday prayer services at selected churches. His communication team has been cautious, avoiding the release of details about his local tours and church visits.
The frequency of Ruto’s travels had been a point of contention among protesting youths, who decried the wastage of public resources. His last international trip was on June 13 to Southern Italy for the G7 Summit. As one of five African leaders invited, Ruto highlighted Africa’s potential for green industrialization, digital revolution, innovation, and its vast renewable energy resources. During this trip, he also visited Switzerland on June 15 for a high-level meeting on peace in Ukraine. Earlier, on June 4, he attended the South Korea-Africa Summit in Seoul, despite previously vowing to avoid such gatherings.
Nine months into his presidency, Ruto took a radical stance on global diplomacy, declaring a shift in how African leaders engage with developed nations. At the Mo Ibrahim Governance Weekend at KICC in April 2023, he criticized the practice of African leaders attending summits with other nations, where they were often mistreated and treated like schoolchildren.
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Ruto’s stance was further underscored during his maiden state visit to the United States on May 20, which was rumored to have cost over Ksh.200 million. However, upon his return, facing public outrage, he defended his travel expenses, asserting that he is a frugal leader. Ruto claimed the trip cost less than Ksh.10 million due to a bargain he struck for a chartered jet, far below the initial Ksh.20 million offer.
Ruto is not the only official curbing travel; his now-fired Cabinet Secretaries have also halted international trips. In response to calls for austerity measures from frustrated Kenyans, President Ruto has committed to cutting public expenditure and reducing budgets for some state offices.
