Ruto’s presidency thrusts hustler ideology into Kenya’s diplomacy

William Samoei Ruto, sworn in as Kenya’s Fifth President on September 13, is now Kenya’s topmost diplomat. According to the legend, Ruto rises from the loins and line of the ‘Orkoiyots’, the revered spiritual, political and military leaders of the Nandi and Kipsigis people. Koitalel arap Samoei, whose name he takes, waged over a decade-long war of resistance against British colonial rule (1890 and 1906). Ruto’s 2018-2022 campaign showed the true mettle and spirit of this subaltern resistance.

It is the Italian Marxist scholar, Antonio Gramsci, who coined the term ‘subaltern’ to explain the lowly socio-economic status of “the native” in an imperial colony.

Subaltern resistance has swept Ruto to power. In 2018, he mooted the hustler-dynasty concept to capture an epic struggle between the have and have-nots in a post-colony.

As a concept of subaltern power, the hustler versus dynasty narrative shifted the axis of struggle from ethnicity as the dominant fault line in Kenyan politics to the economy. It also birthed a new class of politics, now poised to shape and reshape Kenya’s foreign policy.

Touted as ‘the chief hustler’, Ruto ascended to power without comparable diplomatic exposure, experience, flair and finesse as his four predecessors. In contrast, his run-of-the-mill journey from Kerotet Primary School, to Wareng Secondary School, to Kapsabet High School and to the University of Nairobi calls to mind Mugambo Mugenge in Richard Ntiru’s poem, “Introduction,” whose name you only hear in “the out-patients attendance queue; not in the current telephone directory.”

Sphere of diplomacy

Ruto’s rise to power has forcefully thrust the hustler ideology into the sphere of diplomacy. Over a third of Africa’s 55 heads of state, including at least 20 presidents and eight prime ministers and deputy presidents and many delegations, attended his inauguration ceremony.

The colour and symbols of the hustler movement are now engraved in the emblems of Kenya’s nationhood and diplomacy. Ruto’s presidential standard carries the hustler’s yellow shade and the hustler symbol, the wheelbarrow, engraved on it, like the Ashoka Chakra, the spinning wheel, on the Indian flag.

The hustler idea of “Kenya Kwanza” (“Kenya First”) is radically changing Kenya's foreign policy, itself anchored on the five interlinked pillars of peace, economic, diaspora, environmental and cultural diplomacy. 

First, the ‘bottom-up economic’ thinking is reorienting Kenya’s foreign policy from ‘idealism’ to ‘realism’, from globalisation to the reality that “states pursue their narrow self-interests.” It is giving new impetus to the economic and diaspora pillars of Kenya’s foreign policy.

Second is a new focus on Kenya’s diaspora, which injects no less than Sh400 billion into the economy. Ruto has promised to set up a special ministry targeting over three (3) million Kenyans in the diaspora. Third, hustler diplomacy is seeking to reduce the country’s huge public debt. Kenya’s debt has grown fivefold from Sh1 trillion in April 2013 to at least Sh8.83 trillion by August.

Undoubtedly, our global system is state-centric. But idealism matters, too. The ideals of regionalism, pan-Africanism and global solidarity undergird the success and prestige of Kenya’s foreign policy. The hustler nation should balance between national interests and global solidarity.

It is rightly said that East Africa does not have a hegemon in the same way as Nigeria in West Africa or South Africa in Southern Africa. 

But as the most wealthy and influential nation, Kenya has exerted great influence in the Great Lakes region the Horn of Africa. Like other regional powers in Africa, Kenya has played a pivotal role in promoting regional peace and stability.

Kenya has escaped the danger of hegemonic instability. “If there is any gift Kenya has given the East African community, it is the peace in this election,” President Suluhu Hassan of Tanzania said during Ruto’s inauguration.

 Regional peace and stability

As a stable powerhouse, Ruto’s Kenya is a guarantor of regional peace and stability. Ruto has appointed his predecessor, Uhuru Kenyatta, as his peace envoy for the Great Lakes and the Horn of Africa regions. Kenya is also leading its neighbours in stemming the threat of drought, the worst the Horn of Africa has faced in more than four decades. The new President has promised to provide resources to Kenya’s 13 counties facing drought.

“Somalia is a hard nut to crack”, Ruto rightly noted in a recent interview with CNN. But Kenya and Somalia have revived their Joint Commission for Co-operation (JCC). In the post-Farmajo era, they are keeping their common border open. Plans are underway to resume the Kenya Airways flights to Mogadishu. Kenya has provided new market access for fish products from Somalia. And the miraa trade has resumed. Somalia’s entry into the East African Community (EAC) will be a game-changer.

A Kenyan, Peter Mathuki, is the secretary-general of EAC since March 2021. But Ruto’s Kenya has to enhance its community leadership and fast-track the African Free Continental Trade Area (AfCTA).

At the pan-African level, the Morocco- Sahrawi dispute is testing Kenya’s ability to balance national interests and African solidarity. Morocco is a leading source of cheap fertilisers that Kenya needs to pursue its food security agenda. But rescinding Kenya’s recognition of the SADR without a durable solution can undermine Kenya’s influence and national interests. Kenya should work with other regional powers to find a lasting solution to the Saharawi problem.

New Cold War 

Globally, the ‘New Cold War’ between China and the United States puts Kenya’s interests at risk. The hustler nation needs to speed up the implementation of the UK-Kenya Economic Partnership Agreement (EPE) signed in London in December 2020. 

The treaty guarantees all companies operating in Kenya continue to benefit from duty-free access to the UK market. Second, Kenya should get Biden’s government to conclude the long-delayed trade deal with Kenya to expand commercial ties with America.

Third, China has already shifted from aid to investment signified by the Nairobi Expressway and the Global Trade Centre. China is Kenya's largest trading partner. 

Ruto’s government should aim at returning to the 2003-2013 era when trade between the two countries grew by 30 per cent each year. Finally, the Ukraine War has fuelled the high cost of food, oil, fuel and agricultural inputs, including fertilisers. Kenya should explore alternative sources of affordable fertilisers.

 But it should also keep the doors of engagement with Russia and with Nato powers open. Pragmatism should be the dazzling emblem of hustler diplomacy.

Professor Peter Kagwanja is former government advisor and currently Chief Executive of Africa Policy Institute and Adjunct Scholar at the University of Nairobi and the National Defence University (NDU) Kenya.