Ichung’wah’s Uncompelling Interview and The Fallout at The White House: Weekly Review 09/52

Kenya’s ruling regime was placed on a global spotlight as one Kimani Ichung’wah, of Ruto’s closest allies was interviewed at a global news outlet. Zelensky and Trump entered into a war of words in the White House. M-23 makes deeper advances into DRC’s South Kivu province.

It happened in Kenya: Ichung’wah’s unconvincing interview

Kenya’s Majority Leader of Parliament Kimani Ichung’wah was in the limelight this week following his interview on Al-Jazeera.

The interview, which was published on the Al-Jazeera YouTube channel was facilitated by Mehdi Hasan, a British-American journalist and host of the HeadtoHead program. The interview was recorded live in the United Kingdom.

Hasan kicked the interview off in high gear, immediately holding Ichungwah accountable for the government’s handling of anti-government protests in Kenya. He also grilled Ichungwah over the rise in state-sanctioned abductions, high levels of corruption and its execution of the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda, which was central to its manifesto in the 2022 elections.

For much of the interview, Ichung’wah was at pains to give concrete responses to the questions raised by Hasan. His responses were ambiguous and unconvincing, especially to anyone who understands what is happening in Kenya at the moment. Here is a direct example of that, taken from the transcripts of the interview.

A snippet of Kimani Ichung’wah’s HeadtoHead interview on Al-Jazeera with Mehdi Hasan. Timestamp – (6:48-8:52)

Watch the full interview here.

Ichung’wah’s interview was demonstrative of the deep problems ailing Kenya’s system of governance. Ichungwah acknowledged the unpopularity problem faced by his regime, but would nonetheless, attribute it to the fact Kenyans are ‘just vocal on social media’. Not once did he acknowledge the inefficiencies in the Kenya Kwanza’s government in being accountable for the security and wellbeing of Kenyans.

For example, when asked about who was abducting Kenyans, Ichung’wah would reply with vague answers such as ‘criminal elements’, etc. When asked about why Kenyan MPs had huge displays of wealth and affluence on social media, he seemed to shift the blame to Kenyans for taking issue with the MPs instead of addressing the obvious, underlying problem of corruption.

Ichung’wah’s demeanour throughout the interview was that of a political figure who only cares about defending the regime’s interests. A regime that lied its way to power and genuinely knows the problems that Kenyans are facing but still chooses to bury its head in the sand and ignore them.

Props to Mehdi Hasan for doing what any other Kenyan journalist couldn’t; holding a Kenyan politician to account, stripping their facade of lies to expose the truth of their gullible intentions. Many Kenyans would wish to ask the questions that Hasan did in public. But the truth is that if they did, they would mysteriously turn up dead in a river, forest, quarry or mortuary.

Just as Ichungwah was getting grilled by Mehdi Hasan, his boss President William Ruto was pledging millions in giving to a church.

Ruto was in attendance during a fundraiser at Jesus Winner Ministry in Nairobi’s Roysambu on Sunday, March 2.

He pledged Ksh 20 Million for the church’s construction project, promising to raise a further Ksh 100 Million for the project through his political circles. Ruto insists that his pledge is based on his faith and is an expression of his ‘unapologetic giving to the church based on firm foundations of scripture’.

He also stated, “We will build this church so that we shame our political enemies.”

Therefore, his pledge seems less like an act of generosity and more like a means to make political statements and maintain support from Kenya’s staunch Christian faithful.

Political donations have been under huge backlash in the country. Established denominations such as the Anglican Church and the Catholic Church have been against political donations. Kenya’s Catholic church even refunded a Ksh 2.8 Million donation given by President Ruto and Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja.

Ruto’s ‘acts of generosity to the church’ fly in the face of the Public Fundraising Appeals Bill, 2024 which seeks to prevent the perpetuation of corruption by regulating public fundraising activities.

Global Events: Trump’s open ‘vocal braw’ with Zelensky at the White House

February 28 might as well go down as one of the most memorable days in global foreign policy, much because of what happened at the White House’s Oval Office.

United States President Donald Trump engaged in what seemed to be an open vocal brawl with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky. Right in front of journalists and in full view of the whole world, mark you.

Zelensky was in the United States to sign a mineral deal with Trump. The deal was an important step towards guaranteeing continued United States support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.

Trump has been quite vocal in criticizing continued American support for Ukraine, stating that too much American money is being spent to finance the war. He believes that an immediate peace needs to be found with Russia.

He continually blasted Joe Biden’s administration during his presidential campaign and is on record saying that the war would not have happened in the first place if he had been president at the time. Furthermore, he had promised to end the war within the first 100 days.

Back to the Oval Office.

As the meeting started, Zelensky started by voicing concerns over reduced US intervention in the war and its wavering ambition towards fending off Russian aggression. The United States Vice President JD Vance, who was also present during the meeting, responded by accusing Zelensky of ‘lacking gratitude’ for the United States.

Trump who seemed to be getting visibly frustrated as the meeting went on then pressed Zelensky on his position to make concessions with Russia as part of the peace process. Zelensky stated that Russia must give a security guarantee that it would never invade Ukraine again. Trump then warned Zelensky that he was ‘gambling with World War three’. Zelensky then called out Trump’s aloofness in handling Russian aggression, stating that an aggressive Russia posed a direct threat to the United States as well.

“You have a nice ocean and don’t feel it now, but you will feel it in the future,” Zelensky said.

That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Trump promptly ended the meeting. Zelensky unceremoniously left the White House. No minerals agreement was signed. No pledge of renewed United States military assistance. Not even a joint press conference. The world watched on in bewilderment.

Trump and his supporters paint the meeting as an outstanding PR success. Once again, Trump emerges as the pragmatic mediator, keen to work with and bring both parties to the negotiating table. Zelensky is the ‘bad guy’ who can’t make concessions or sacrifice his position for peace. Zelensky only cares about using free military assistance from the United States to continue an endless fight against Russia.

I mean, how does Zelensky, the leader of a country desperate for United States support dare to interrupt, argue and be ‘rude’ to the United States president, much less while at the White House?

Even the Russians seemed pleasantly surprised by the rapid turn of events. The Kremlin, which has cozying up to the Trump administration, was quick to jump on the anti-Zelensky bandwagon. Russian leaders and media outlets went on a full-on offensive against Zelensky, calling him everything from a ‘scoundrel’ to an ‘insolent pig’.

Nonetheless, let’s not act like we don’t know who is the bad guy.

It was Russia who invaded Ukraine three years ago. Zelensky may be desperate, but he should by no means take the blame for the war happening in the first place. He is a man fighting for the very survival of his country.

A big reason why Russia invaded was to prevent Ukraine from becoming part of NATO and by extension, the European Union. However, the irony is that the country behind NATO, which is the United States, now seems to be playing on Russia’s side.

The West as we know it is crumbling. Trump has sought to distance his country from NATO, ending an alliance with Western Europe that has lasted at least since the Cold War. And he has every right to, if he feels that that is the right thing to do.

European powers have been quick to recognize this. The French president recently called out Trump to declare his position on the United States’ alliance with Europe. Even as Zelensky left the White House with his head hung in shame, European powers embraced him with open arms. He was invited as a keynote speaker at a gathering of European leaders in London.

Many of Trump’s detractors have labelled him a stooge of Russian interests. These allegations are not without merit. Trump has glorified Putin several times before and there huge allegations of Russian interference during the 2016 elections in favour of Trump. Elon Musk, a close Trump ally, has been on multiple calls with Putin, potentially for business ends.

Despite the huge economic sanctions placed on Russia by the United States, calls for renewed cooperation between the two countries have been on the rise in recent days. There has been talk of a joint United States-Saudi Arabia-Russian mission to Mars. Trump’s envoys have been having their own set of talks with their Russian counterparts revolving around economic cooperation between the two countries.

A Russia-US summit to be held in a Gulf state (likely Saudi Arabia)is on the cards. Whilst Trump’s team paints this as an avenue for peace discussions around the war in Ukraine, the United States will definitely seek to secure economic gains from Russia as well.

A ‘friendly’ United States regime could not have come at better time for Russia. Trump will have killed several birds with one stone for them. Dragging a battered Ukraine to the negotiating table will probably result in huge concessions for Russia, legitimizing their invasion in the country. Russia would also gains a huge one-up over NATO, which might legitimize invasions into other NATO members within its ‘sphere of infuence’.

I am not making any presupposed conclusions. These are still early days and a lot can happen, but here is my point.

Trump may have been fed up with NATO or the larger extent of Europe for its overdependence of US protection. And that’s fine. He may even want to seek an open relationship with Putin’s Russia, regardless of how unpopular that may turn out to be. However, his bias in favour of Russia is obvious and he should not identify himself as a bipartisan mediator.

Elsewhere in the Region: M-23’s continued advance.

More than 60,000 people have fled into Burundi as fighting continues to escalate in DRC’s South Kivu province.

The refugee situations threatens to create a humanitarian crisis as more people flee across the border. Burundi is already one of the world’ poorest countries and may not lack the ability to support a ballooning refugee population within its borders.

The M-23 rebel alliance has been making its advance from the town of Bukavu, the capital of the South Kivu province, down south towards the Uvira territory.

Uvira, and particularly the City of Uvira is located on the border with Burundi.

Most of the arriving refugees have been displaced from as far away as Goma, travelling hundreds of kilometers south as they flee the conflict.

The M-23 rebel movement has been making a spirited advance towards the capital. This could be a repeat of the First Congo War in which Laurent Desire-Kabila marched all the way from eastern Congo to the capital of Kinshasa to overthrow Mobutu Sese-Seko’s regime.

And much like the M-23 movement today, Kabila did so with the backing of the Rwandan government.

Read more on the history of M-23: A Beginners Guide to Armed Resistance Movements in DR Congo.

Rwanda continues to deny to its involvement with M-23 movement at every turn. Much of the world is however, unconvinced and has initiated strong actions against Rwanda.

The United Kingdom suspended some bilateral aid to Rwanda and imposed diplomatic and military aid sanctions to the country. The United States also imposed sanctions on the Rwandan Minister of State for Regional Integration, James Kabarebe. Kabarebe is a close ally Rwandan President Kagame and has been a Senior Military figure in the country alongside Kagame.

Kabarebe was a key Rwandan general in the First and Second Congo War, mounting Rwandese-led resistance against Mobutu and eventually, against Laurent Kabila. The United States believes that he is a central figure in the M-23 movement, acting as the liaison between the movement and Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF). He is also believed to coordinate the illegal extraction of minerals from the DRC for eventual export through Rwanda.

M-23 rebel forces and the DRC army traded blame over a deadly explosion in Bukavu that killed 13 and injured scores more on Thursday, February 27.

The explosions happened after several attackers hurled grenades and other explosives into a crowd gathered at Bukavu’s central square. The crowd was listening to a speech given by one of M-23 rebel leaders.

Witnesses at the scene believed that the attackers were targeting the explosives at the M-23 leaders, but the explosives missed their targets and exploded prematurely, killing innocent civilians.

However, DRC’s interior ministry blamed ‘Rwanda and its proxies’ for intentionally targeting unarmed civilians. However, the M-23 leadership stated that the grenades used were the same ones as those of the Burundian army, which has been fighting against the rebels alongside the DRC army.

Fears of a regional war continue to escalate as refugees flee across borders and neighbouring countries send military belligerents and resources in support of either faction.