Ruto Eats Tinubu’s Dinner As Biden Makes Kenya Major Ally

With an economy worth over $2trillion in Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) terms, huge oil and gas reserves, strategic location and Africa’s most populous nation of more than 200 million people, Nigeria should be the continent’s most important American ally.Instead, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has had to watch from the sidelines as Kenyan President William Ruto literally eat his dinner as he is hosted to a lavish and glitzy state visit by President Joe Biden in an effort to strengthen US economic ties with Africa and counter Chinese and Russian influence across the continent.Attendees at the dinner were treated to a three-course meal that included chilled heirloom tomato soup, beef short rib and butter-poached lobster, and a white chocolate basket for dessert. The courses were paired with wines from California and Oregon.Ruto’s state dinner is the first for an African leader in 16 years and attracted prominent tech industry leaders attending including Brad Smith, the president of Microsoft Corp.; Ruth Porat, president and chief financial officer of Alphabet Inc; former Meta Platforms Inc. Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and Ursula Burns of Teneo.Microsoft also said this week it plans to build a $1 billion geothermal-powered data center in Kenya, part of a multi-year plan to dramatically increase cloud-computing capacity in East Africa.The American tech giant meanwhile this month laid off its entire engineering team at its African Development Center (ADC) in Lagos, Nigeria, despite operating for five years, employing at least 120 engineers and more than 200 total staff members.Microsoft set up its African Development Center in Lagos, Nigeria, and Nairobi, Kenya, in 2019 to expand its engineering talent pool, focus on student and community engagements, and invest in Microsoft programmes.As Microsoft lays off the engineering team, the future of its African Development Center in Lagos hangs in the balance. With the core team gone, questions arise about the facility’s continuation.NATO & CHIPsPresident Biden designated the East African country as America’s first “major non-Nato ally” in sub-Saharan Africa, an acknowledgment of the growing security partnership between the countries.The designation, while largely symbolic, reflects how Kenya has grown from a regional partner that has long cooperated with U.S. counterterrorism operations on the continent to a major global influence — even extending its reach into the Western Hemisphere.Kenya will be the first sub-Saharan African country to receive the status.The US also announced it’s proposing to make Kenya the first country in Africa to benefit from funding in the Chips and Science Act, according to White House officials. The administration intends to work with Congress to commit $1 million in assistance for Kenya to support assembly, testing and packaging in the semiconductor sector.Questions around Tinubu’s legitimacyA 2023 Country Report on Human Rights Practices, Nigeria, by the U.S. Department of State has shed light on various irregularities and challenges faced during the country’s 2023 elections.While acknowledging that the elections largely reflected the will of voters, the report highlighted issues that marred the electoral process.According to the April 2024 report, “Many independent observers assessed the results of the presidential, legislative, and state-level elections during the year reflected the will of voters, despite reports of voter suppression and vote buying, campaigning at polling stations, lack of ballot secrecy, violence, and intimidation.”Niger vs HaitiSources tell MoneyCentral that Tinubu is seen by the US to have dithered in Niger, while Ruto has been decisive on Haiti. Kenya plans to deploy 1,000 paramilitary officers to the Caribbean country as part of a U.N.-backed effort to curb gang violence and hunger.After the army seized power in Niger last year, the president of Nigeria Tinubu was at the forefront of demands that the junta step down, even warning that the West African bloc could use military force to oust the generals, while imposing tough sanctions and closing the border.However just eight months later, Bola Tinubu has lifted all those restrictions.In many ways, it is a huge climbdown for the regional bloc, Ecowas, but it is also personally embarrassing for Tinubu, analysts say, with former President Olusegun Obasanjo criticising Nigeria’s approach to the coup in the Republic of Niger.The Biden administration has praised Kenya for stepping up in Haiti when so few other countries have agreed to do so.“Kenya believes that the responsibility of peace and security anywhere in the world, including in Haiti, is the collective responsibility of all nations and all people who believe in freedom, self-determination, democracy and justice,” Ruto said. “And it is the reason why Kenya took up this responsibility.”A difficult assignment is ahead for the Kenyan officers.Haiti has endured poverty, political instability and natural disasters for decades. International intervention in Haiti has a complicated history. A U.N.-approved stabilization mission to Haiti that started in June 2004 was marred by a sexual abuse scandal and the introduction of cholera, which killed nearly 10,000 people. The mission ended in October 2017.The United States has agreed to contribute $300 million to the multinational force.DealsThe U.S. is expected to announce $250 million in new investments in Kenya through the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, including $180 million for a major affordable housing project, a U.S. government official said. That will bring the U.S. financing institution’s portfolio in Kenya to nearly $1.1 billion. The corporation will also open an office in Kenya.https://moneycentral.com.ng/exclusive/article/ruto-eats-tinubus-dinner-as-biden-makes-kenya-major-ally/