Inside Ruto's Ksh.52 billion bag of goodies from America

Ruto and his host President Joe Biden signed multiple deals spanning different governmental and private sectors.

In the four-day-long State Visit, Kenya has reaped not only financial and investment gains, but also a landmark achievement to become the first be the first sub-Saharan African country to be designated as a major non-NATO ally of the United States. 

The goodie bag

When Ruto returns home this weekend, he will be landing with a bag full of goodies worth over Ksh.52 billion ($395.15M).

The sums of money are from commitments that the U.S. state departments and agencies have made to Kenya, to support various development projects.

The various partnerships, The White House announced, are founded on the 60-year ties the two nations have shared.

The money that the U.S has given Kenya or committed to will support the country in areas including Democracy, Human Rights, Governance; Health Partnerships; People-to-People Ties; Shared Climate Solutions; Trade and Investment; Debt, Development, and Sustainable Finance; Digital, Critical, and Emerging Technology Cooperation; and Peace and Security Cooperation.

Nearly Ksh.5.3 billion ($40 million) has been allocated to Kenya for democracy, human rights, and governance and another Ksh.93 million ($700,000) to support the operationalisation of the Public Benefits Organization Act. 

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced an additional Ksh.173 million ($1.3 million) for the youth empowerment program aimed at strengthening political engagement at the subnational level and Ksh.80 million ($600,000) to advance disability inclusion.

America also intends to support Kenya’s Anti-corruption efforts with Ksh.66 million ($500,000) for a new Fiscal Integrity Program, and another Ksh.66 million ($500,000) to broaden the reach and effectiveness of anti-corruption advocacy.

“To support the Government of Kenya to combat corruption, the Administration is providing Ksh.33 million ($250,000) through the Global Accountability Program, and Ksh.40 million ($300,000) to support Kenya’s proposed Whistleblower Protection law to strengthen Kenya’s anti-corruption legal architecture.  In addition, USAID has provided Ksh.358 million ($2.7 million) to support the improved enforcement of policy and laws that deal with fraud, waste, and abuse in the delivery of public services to Kenyan citizens,” the White House says. 

The US also announced a new Ksh.929 million ($7 million) partnership to advance and strengthen the modernization and professionalization of Kenya’s National Police Service. 

The United States of America also intends to provide Ksh.650 million ($4.9 million) in new funding for Kenya and other East African countries to improve cooperation and coordination in combating criminal networks and holding criminals accountable.

The goodie bag will also take care of reforms in Kenya’s electoral process with Ksh.199 million ($1.5 million) provided to support Kenya’s electoral process by strengthening the election commission, political parties, and campaign finance.

America will also support Kenya in developing the digital superhighway to enable a holistic view of health care delivery. Here, Ksh.4.1 billion ($31 million) will be provided to build and deploy digital health solutions to support disease programs in Kenya.

Other investments that the U.S. will make in Kenya include a Ksh.1.3 billion ($10 million) direct loan to Kenyan company Hewa Tele and two rounds of equity investment totalling Ksh.531 million ($4 million) to Kasha Global. 

The U.S. will also support the Kenyan education sector by providing Ksh.66 million ($500,000) to support the development of Kenyan students, scientists, researchers, and engineers.

“USAID intends to provide Ksh.3.2 billion ($24.5 million) for the Kenya Primary Literacy Program (KPLP), a new nationwide early-grade literacy activity implemented in close partnership with Kenya’s Ministry of Education,” the White House announced.

Another Ksh.40 billion ($300,000) will support women’s entrepreneurship and gender equity in the Kenyan energy sector and Ksh.478 million ($3.6 million) committed to accelerating the connection of homes, businesses, and institutions in Kenya to cleaner electricity. 

Other investments will be in hydropower projects and a transition to zero-emissions vehicles in Kenya.

Kenyan-owned private companies have also gotten a share of the goodies. For instance, a Ksh.66 million ($500,000) technical assistance grant has been announced to build a proprietary credit scoring model to support Pezesha Africa Limited.

In addition, a Ksh.6.8 billion ($51 million) loan will be issued to asset financing platform M-KOPA to support smartphone receivables and cash loans. This is aimed at enhancing the affordability of M-KOPA’s devices to low-income borrowers.