Kenyan President in Atlanta: Inclusive Global Growth Needed to Counter Democratic Decline

U.S. leadership is needed to counter a growing narrative of democratic decline around the world, especially in a pivotal year with 2 billion people headed to the polls across 90 countries, Kenya’s president said in Atlanta during the first engagement of his state visit to the U.S.

While Kenya has shored up its own electoral system to secure the shared freedoms that have made the nations natural partners in their 60 years of diplomatic ties, the rise of autocrats presenting alternative paths to prosperity presents a new reputational risk for systems of representative government around the world, President William Ruto said during a speech at The Carter Center.

“We now run the escalating risk of democracy and free markets being associated with poverty and suffering, lending credence to the widespread lamentation that democracy is or has been on the retreat in many parts of the world, including Africa,” Mr. Ruto said.

Praising The Carter Center’s work on global health and election monitoring, Mr. Ruto said fostering inclusive growth and creating jobs is key to showing citizens that “democracy delivers.”

When he visits Washington later this week on the first state visit by an African president in 15 years, Mr. Ruto said he will speak out against an “unjust international financial architecture” that keeps developing countries indebted and ill-prepared for costly climate disasters.

He will call for “concessionary development financing to support our economies, build resilience against the effects of climate change, drive our belief in free market economy, and energize our democratic enterprise,” he said.

Promoting this agenda was a key reason Kenya hosted the African leaders summit of the World Bank’s International Development Association in Nairobi in April, Mr. Ruto said. The IDA provides development assistance for 75 developing countries, including 39 in Africa.

“I believe the United States of America has a historic opportunity to lead the free world in dealing with this economic situation and give meaning to democracy and free market economy worldwide, including in Kenya and many other developing countries,” Mr. Ruto said.

Kenya’s Democratic Development

In his wide-ranging remarks, Mr. Ruto presented Kenya as a constructive partner helping solve regional and global challenges, a “viciously democratic” country whose credibility is underpinned by a strong constitution and fervent commitment to protecting its citizens’ freedoms.

The U.S., he said, has been integral to Kenya’s democratic development since it gained independence in December 1963. Jurists like Thurgood Marshall, whose grave he will visit in Washington, helped shape the Kenyan constitution, while progressive leaders and civil rights activists also shaped its discourse.

“These strategic and thoughtful interventions reflected our shared values and empowered our young nation to stand confidently on its own and forge a path that we celebrate even today,” Mr. Ruto said just before he was to head to the King Center to visit the tomb of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King.

Students from the nascent republic also came to the U.S. on a student exchange initiated by President John F. Kennedy, forging competent leaders that could help drive its economy forward. That spirit will be present in the signing of an agreement between five Kenyan universities and their U.S. counterparts during the trip, Mr. Ruto said.

The president spent considerable time underscoring Kenya’s commitment to electoral transparency and the peaceful transfer of power even as some established democracies like the U.S have seen problems in that realm.

In Kenya, he said, rumors of a “deep state” conspiring behind the scenes to influence the election outcome emerged before his 2022 election.

“But believe you me, if the deep state was to decide, or ‘the system’ was to decide, a different person would be standing before you today as the president of Kenya.”

He added that Kenya had made significant investments in its electronic voting systems and that its Supreme Court is experienced in handling election disputes like the August 2017 contest that was annulled after challenger Raila Odinga alleged digital interference.

Mr. Ruto, then the running mate of President Uhuru Kenyatta, became deputy president after a new election was finally held in October, but not before violent post-election protests resulted in dozens of deaths across the country.

“I tell you, it’s not good when your election is annulled, but it is democracy and we choose to respect it,” he said.

In front of a large delegation of Kenyan media, Mr. Ruto went on to praise the press as key to holding leaders accountable and assisting in rooting out corruption.

“The people of Kenya are the ultimate holders of all sovereign power. Leaders like myself, and many seated here, have an irrevocable covenant every five years to renew their social contract with the citizens. We celebrate the right of every Kenyan to choose their political representatives and to participate in public positions as a fundamental principle of democratic governance.”

Solving Regional, Global Challenges

While it calls for larger countries like the U.S. to step up, Kenya is not waiting to take action to solve both regional and global challenges, seeing its destiny as “inseparably intertwined with the overall well-being of humanity.”

Reflecting during a fireside chat with Carter Center CEO Paige Alexander on the country’s “tough neighborhood,” Mr. Ruto said Kenya is helping drive reform at the African Union, training electoral workers in South Sudan and calling on Sudan to transition to a civilian government. It’s working with the U.S. to ensure the withdrawal of international forces from Somalia doesn’t leave a power vacuum that will be filled by terrorists. And in the Western Hemisphere, Kenya is leading a United Nations-backed effort to restore order in Haiti, where violent gangs have taken control of large swaths of territory.

The setting at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Center and Library was fitting, he said, given the former president’s work around the world, which Mr. Ruto said will be intensified with the Carter Center.

“We are called to honor his humanitarianism and solidarity and his steadfast advocacy for the well-being of individuals and the creation of inclusive equitable and just societies,” Mr. Ruto said. “In today’s complex global landscape, it is crucial to reaffirm and resolutely uphold timeless principles of democracy and freedom,” Mr. Ruto said.

The Carter Legacy and Atlanta as a Gateway

In welcoming remarks, Rep. Nikema Williams, a Democrat from Georgia’s 5th district in Atlanta, said kick-starting his historic visit in Atlanta was fitting given the city’s role as the “cradle of the civil rights movement.”

“We have a saying here in Atlanta, President Ruto — Atlanta influences everything,’ and make no mistake, we are proud to influence active and engaged civil societies around the globe,” said Ms. Williams, the successor in Congress to the late civil rights legend John Lewis.

Ms. Alexander, the Carter Center CEO, said Mr. Ruto’s speech reminded her of a quote from Mr. Lewis: “Democracy is not a state. Democracy is an act, and it’s the responsibility of multiple generations to carry that forward.”

She added that Mr. Lewis told her before his passing that Kenya sent a delegation to Atlanta to meet with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which he co-founded, in 1963, the first engagement in a long history of discussions with Kenyans.

“So, it’s commemorating 60 years of diplomatic relations, but it’s also 60 years of relationship with Atlanta,” Ms. Alexander said.

The Carter Center has been active in Kenya since 1994, when it began working on the eradication of Guinea worm disease in partnership with the country’s health ministry. In 2000, a ceremony was held to recognize how strengthening reporting systems and domestic health infrastructure had wiped out the disease within Kenya’s borders. As of the end of 2023, only 14 human cases remained in five African countries.

Mr. Ruto said that as Kenya embarks on an effort to provide universal health care for its citizens, his government would sign an agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta Monday before engaging in a forum with the Kenyan community at the Cobb Galleria. He is slated to headline a Prosper Africa business forum Tuesday evening.

View the CDC meeting and agreement signing livestreamed by the president’s Executive Mansion on X:

Transforming the Kenya-US Health Partnership, Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta. https://t.co/6cRBf1RYQR

— William Samoei Ruto, PhD (@WilliamsRuto) May 20, 2024