President Ruto’s administration continues to come under fire for, amongst many more things, the Kenyan-led mission in Haiti and his countrywide ‘development’ tours. In the United States, Trump’s tariff mania continued as he imposed worldwide tariffs to most, if not all, countries globally.
Table of Contents
It happened in Kenya: Questions on Haiti, Kosovo and a presidential tour.
President Ruto embarked on a week-long tour of Kenya’s central region in an attempt to woo support from the largely Kikuyu electorate. Ruto’s support in Central Kenya or Murima has been at an all-time low following his move to oversee the impeachment of his former deputy, Rigathi Gachagua. In response, Gachagua has been on the offensive and has built up a solid backing from much of the Kikuyu community.
Ruto has been on an uphill task to ‘scale the mountain’ amidst a huge wave of unpopularity and his allies in the region. Ruto’s allies, such as Kimani Ichungwah and Anne Muratha, were booed and heckled during their rallies across various parts of Kiambu county.
On the other hand, President Ruto seems to have been treated to a slightly different reception. The crowd seemed to be more receptive and accommodative to him, cheering him on (though not as boisterously as they did at the height of his popularity in the region). The cheers, however, didn’t come cheap.
Allegations of paid crowds at Presidential rallies are nothing new, and this time was no different. Reports of coordinated and collectivized crowd mobilization by Ruto’s team at the grassroots level were rampant to the tune of several thousand shillings per person. In fact, leaders aligned with Gachagua actively encouraged people to take Ruto’s handout money even as they continued to oppose him.
All the while, Ruto’s countrywide tours seem to be achieving little other than relaunching perpetually stalled ‘developed projects’. For anyone with a keen sense of Kenya’s political endeavors, the tours are nothing but campaign rallies to reaffirm his re-election bid in 2027.
Despite his perceived unpopularity in the region, Ruto promised to be back and keep touring the region to plead his case.
Gachagua continued his offensive against Ruto even as goons disrupted the PCEA Kasarani church where the leader was giving his address. After the situation was de-escalated, Gachagua went bare-knuckle against Ruto, blaming him and his cronies for sending criminal elements to disrupt a peaceful religious gathering. He alluded to the atrocious killing of innocent civilians at a church during the height of the 2007 Post-Election Violence who were locked and burned within a church building in Kiambaa, Eldoret. The Kiambaa Church incident has long been linked to Ruto, who was believed to be a key perpetrator of the post-election violence.
Kenya’s mission in Haiti continues to come under fire after the Kenyan police force suffered its second fatality in its heightened war with Haitian gangs. Benedict Kabiru, a Kenyan police officer under the Multinational Security Support (MSS) force in Haiti, was confirmed as the second Kenyan casualty after he was initially reported missing.
A statement from Haiti’s Presidential Transitional Council praised Kabiru’s valiance and his ‘sacrifice for a better future’. Kabiru was killed in an ambush attack on Kenyan police forces by gang forces in Haiti. Confirmation of his death follows the viral circulation of a video on social media depicting the scene of the ambush and gang members mutilating a corpse that appears to be that of Kabiru. Jack Ombaka, the Kenyan MSS spokesperson, had dismissed claims that the officer depicted in the video was, in fact, Kabiru.
Following confirmation of his death, however, talks have been initiated with the gang forces aligned to Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Cherizier, who are believed to be holding on to Kabiru’s body.
The Haitian mission has been thrown into jeopardy following US President Trump’s decision to withhold funding for the country’s foreign aid endeavors. The US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, reaffirmed the country’s continued support for the MSS mission in Haiti and approved a funding waiver for the MSS.
However, there have been calls for the transformation of the MSS into a UN peacekeeping force in Haiti as a way to address the lack of adequate funding for the mission. The mission has been overly dependent on logistical support and funding from the United States since its inception.
In a telephone conversation with United States Secretary General Antonio Gutierres on Thursday, April 3, President Ruto discussed continued UN support for the mission in Haiti. Gutierres applauded Kenya for taking a leading role in advancing peacekeeping activities in Haiti.
The two also discussed the joint EAC-SADC community process in formulating a roadmap for resolving conflict in the DRC.
On March 26, 2025, at State House, Nairobi, President Ruto signed the official paperwork recognizing Kosovo as an independent country. The move played into the controversial, existential status surrounding the existence of Kosovo.
Kosovo is a landlocked country located in the Balkan region of Europe. It broke apart from Serbia in 2008. Serbia was in itself part of the former Yugoslavian Republic, which broke apart following the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s.
Kosovo has been seeking recognition from other countries globally, stating that it has been officially recognized by 110 countries. On the other hand, Serbia continues to undermine Kosovo’s independence and is backed by its allies in China and Russia. Both China and Russia hold veto power status at the United Nations, positions which they use to block Kosovo’s membership at the United Nations.
Kenya referred to a 2010 ruling given by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which upheld Kosovo’s declaration of independence. The ICJ’s decision was non-binding nonetheless, and members at the United Nations General Assembly have been slow to accept Kosovo’s membership.
President Ruto’s decision to recognize Kosovo’s independence has created a diplomatic storm in Europe, with Serbia strongly condemning this move. It is still unclear the exact motivation for Ruto’s acceptance of Kosovo’s independence. The Kenyan president seems to have departed from the pledge made to his Serbian counterpart in October 2023, in which he promised not to recognize Kosovo’s independence.
Global Events: Trump’s Tariff Mania
US markets continued to plummet as China, Mexico, and Canada responded to US tariffs by imposing levies on US goods. The move follows Trump’s aggressive tariff policy through which, in Trump’s eyes at least, is meant to reassert US economic independence and dominance. Trump’s team had claimed that they had inherited a struggling economy from Biden’s tenure, an economy that was supposedly propped up by unsustainable government spending.
However, Trump’s policies have only escalated the United States’ economic woes. Trump’s actions and statements, including launching an offensive against the US’s traditional allies in Canada and the European Union, have been leaving the country increasingly isolated.
He accused the European Union of being overreliant on the US for trade and military defence through NATO. He threatened to pull the United States out of the NATO agreement, which includes pulling back US military and logistical support for Ukraine. Trump has been accused of his seeming willingness to support Russia, which most agree is the aggressor in its war with Ukraine. Trump’s public spat with Ukrainian President Volodomryr was the culmination of the fallout between the two countries.
So, despite promising to intervene to facilitate peace between the two countries, he seems to be more willing to appease the Russians led by President Vladimir Putin.
In recent days, however, his decisions on the economic front have placed the US between a rock and a hard place. On Thursday, April 2, Trump imposed a flat rate of 10% tariffs on goods from countries and territories across the world for what he labelled as ‘treatment for countries that treat us badly’.(I wonder when that includes far off, inhabited island territories in the pacific that are only inhabited by penguins. Have penguins been ripping off the United States too?)
Some countries, especially those viewed as the ‘big offenders’, were hit with significantly higher tariff rates. Chinese goods were slapped with an additional tariff rate of 34% on top of the 25% tariff rate imposed on the country earlier this year. However, the tariff also disproportionately affected countries with huge trade deficits with the US (they export more to the US than they import from it). As a result, countries such as Lesotho are now forced to grapple with tariff rates as high as 50%, which is the result of their huge textile exports to the US.
Lesotho’s textile export industry, particularly to the US, grew as a result of the AGOA partnership initiated by then US President Bill Clinton in 2000. AGOA was meant to empower economic growth in African countries by allowing them to manufacture and export duty-free goods to the US.
Lesotho exports goods worth over $238 million yearly to the US, mostly made up of textile goods, while importing little over $2 million worth of goods from the US. Lesotho’s huge trade deficit is the only reason why the country is now left to grapple with high tariff rates. Most economists argue that the calculation of the tariffs imposed by Trump was flawed and does not truly reflect the deep and complex trade relationships the US has with most of its trading allies.
In fact, most economists argue that the tariffs are uncalled for, especially for a country that is quite dependent on global trade, such as the United States. Tariffs do little to either alleviate the potential of economic downturn or stimulate economic growth. If anything, they may drive a country closer and deeper towards the path of economic recession.
This is not the first time the United States has imposed widespread tariffs such as those implemented by Trump. Back in the 1930s, the United States government implemented a series of tariffs under the Smoot-Hawley Act to try and prevent the country’s slip into economic depression. The act imposed widespread tariffs on more than 20,000 imported goods into the United States. However, instead of stimulating US production and manufacturing, the tariffs caused an increase in goods and services and retaliation from foreign governments, which only sank the United States deeper into the Great Depression.
Much like Trump, then US President Herbert Hoover wrongly believed that mercantilist economic measures such as tariffs would help re-incetivize economic growth. The reality could not have been further from the truth.
Hoover has long been viewed as one of the more unpopular US Presidents, specifically for his handling of the Great Depression. Should Trump continue his economic offensive, he might soon overtake Hoover in that regard.
In a world that is increasingly integrated into international trade partnerships, tariffs are rarely ever a good idea. They diminish trust and openness, which can isolate the tariff-issuing country in the international sphere. Furthermore, and as is witnessed at the moment, affected countries often reiterate with reciprocal tariffs, which can escalate into an international trade war. And as any self-assuming economist would tell you, trade wars have no winners. Everyone loses.
Most importantly, however, tariffs are a tax on the citizens of the issuing country. Most imported goods often have no domestically produced alternatives, and consumers are forced to pay full price for imported goods, with the cost of tariffs included. Even domestically produced alternatives are available, local producers may hike prices to match them with those of imported goods.
So, despite any good intentions, the US consumer will be paying at least 10% for most goods available in the country starting April 5.
Following Trump’s tariff announcements, thousands of US citizens took to several US cities in protest against Trump. The ‘Hands Off’ protests sought to criticize Trump’s socio-political decisions since his inauguration as the US President. The protestors also denounced the ‘Billionaire Takeover’ through figures such as Elon Musk, who have an incredibly powerful say in Trump’s government given their donations and pledges to his administration.
Even as the world adjusts to Trump’s tariff mania, the US economy continues to plummet. Investor confidence in US stocks is at an all-time low, and if economic figures and projections are anything to go by, the US economy is already reeling from Trump’s tariff measures, and the threat of a recession is now quite imminent. Most countries have been slow to respond to Trump’s tariff measures, and with Trump leaving the door for negotiations open, they are keen to initiate talks with his government.
Elsewhere in the region: An elusive peace in South Sudan
A fallout between South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and his long-term political rival, Riek Machar, in recent days, continues to heighten tensions within the country.
Riek Machar was placed under house arrest on Wednesday, March 26, after government forces, flanked by heavily armed military units, made their way into his Juba residence. He is accused of inciting a rebellion against the South Sudanese government.
Machar, who is the country’s main opposition figure, has been in a long-standing feud with President Kiir. The two leaders fought in a deadly civil war that broke out soon after the country achieved independence from Sudan in 2011.
A fragile peace agreement brokered in 2018 established a sort of coalition government, with Kiir as President and Machar as his first Vice-President. However, that has done little to whittle down tensions between the two leaders.
Machar’s arrest followed an attack on a government army base in Upper Nile State, close to the border with Sudan on March 4. The attack is believed to have been carried out by armed forces from the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-in-Opposition (SPLA-IO), which is closely aligned to Machar.
Read More: Canada to Square off with Trump, Tensions Escalate in South Sudan: Weekly Review 10/52
Kenya, alongside other IGAD countries, sent in Raila Odinga as a special envoy to the country to help diffuse the political situation in the country. Odinga met with Kiir but claimed to have been denied access to Machar, whom the Sudanese government said was ‘under investigation’. He was instead asked to consult with the IGAD head of state first, starting with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.
Museveni is a key ally to Kiir and has intervened to help him in power, including by sending over Ugandan troops to Juba on Kiir’s behalf.
Museveni has been in the country to help de-escalate the situation. On the other hand, negotiators from the AU are seeking the release of Machar as a prerequisite to help facilitate a peace agreement between Kiir’s and Machar’s factions.
In other developments, DRC government officials and representatives from the M-23 rebel group are set to meet for extended peace talks in Doha, Qatar. This follows a discreet meeting between the Qataris and factions from both the M-23 rebels and the DRC government.
The talks seem to be bearing fruit as M-23 withdrew from the city of Walikale, a key mining outpost in the North Kivu province.
The Qatari talks follow a joint EAC-SADC Summit on DRC Congo, which were initiated in the wake of the fall of the Angola-led Luanda Peace process.
Leave a Reply