‘I commend my brother Modi for championing Africa in the global geopolitics,’ says Kenyan President William Ruto

Kenyan President William Ruto, who was on a two-day visit to India, lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership and expressed confidence that there is going to be a new chapter in the relations between the two nations. In an exclusive interview with Firstpost, Ruto said, “I have a lot of admiration for Prime Minister Modi.  The way he has managed to pick up India and the way he is focused on matters that affect common people.” [video width=“1280” height=“720” mp4=“https://images.firstpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/PROMO-0612-WILLIAM-RUTO-LRS.mp4"][/video] Ruto met Modi in New Delhi on Tuesday where both the leaders held bilateral meetings. Talking about his conversation with the Indian prime minister, the Kenyan president said, “We had a robust conversation on a wide-ranging subject of issues that are of mutual benefit between Kenya and India.” When asked if Kenya resonates more with India’s model of development and growth, Ruto said, “India and Kenya share the same history. India was a British colony, just like Kenya. We have a lot in common with India and it is easier to work with. Indian experience because we can relate to it.” ‘Terrorism a global phenomenon’ President Ruto said that both India and Kenya have suffered terrorism from neighbouring countries and stressed the importance of fighting the threat of terrorism together. “It’s necessary that we build a coalition of countries so that we share experience, intelligence, information and synergise to deal with terrorism as terrorism has no borders,” he said. The Kenyan leader said that the threat of terrorism is common for all nations across the world. He emphasised the need for India and Kenya to work together to collaborate and strengthen sea routes as terrorists use the shared waters of the Indian Ocean to block goods thereby affecting trade. “I must commend India for working with us in using their capabilities. They worked with Kenya to survey our maritime resources and to provide technical expertise for us to see what is the wealth of the resources that we have in our waters,” Ruto added. ‘PM Modi championed the place of global south’ During the G20 Summit in September, held in New Delhi under the presidency of India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the addition of the African Union as a permanent member of the bloc. “I commend my brother Prime Minister Modi, for his efforts in championing the place of Global South and specifically the place of Africa in the global geopolitics,” the Kenyan leader said. He added, “It is here in India that Africa got the opportunity to be a permanent member of the G20. And we believe that that positioning is going to not only bring voice but African perspective into the conversation and African interests and African issues into the equation and it is one step in the right direction.” “We also discussed with Prime Minister Modi what we need to do about the United Nations Security Council. We need a much more democratic UN Security Council because it cannot be that five countries somehow are the only ones who will have this much power about issues that happen globally,” he further said. De-dollarisation and the rise of Indian Rupee The Kenyan President showed interest in trading in Indian Rupees, giving way to the dependency on the US dollar. Ruto said, “We want to trade in our local currencies. And in fact, the conversation I was having yesterday with Prime Minister Modi is that even the facility that will be extended to Kenya, the 250 million facility, we want it in Indian Rupees. Why should we go and look for dollars when we can have the facility in Indian Rupees?” “We have a lot of trade and we buy commodities in Indian Rupee. Why should we change the Kenya shilling to US dollar from US dollar to the Indian rupee? Why don’t we just agree that we can do trade between Kenya in shillings and in rupees?” he added. ‘Using govt services using Indian experience’ Hailing India’s progress in the process of digitisation, President Ruto said that Kenya is following the country to digitise its own government services. “What India has done is phenomenal. Even with a population of 1.4 billion people services can be delivered much more efficiently because citizens can be identified digitally,” President Ruto said. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between the Open University of Kenya and the Indira Gandhi National Open University of India to collaborate on efforts to deliver services digitally across Kenya. ‘Repositioning Africa in our own perspective’ President Ruto said that Africa is a region with an abundance of resources and opportunities. “We are repositioning Africa, not in the eyes of others who know very little about us, but in our own perspective, knowing exactly the wealth that we have. We want to work with others. We come with our assets. We do not want to ask for favors. We do not want to ask for aid.  We are not looking for donations. What we want is an engagement on how are we going to create investment opportunities,” he said. He said that the nation is focusing on changing the narrative for Africa and making it an investment destination instead of a destination for aid or a destination for donations. Ruto added, “We cannot continue to import stuff. And in fact, that’s something Prime Minister Modi believes. In fact, he has changed India from a net importer of rice to a net exporter of rice today.  And that is the mission I have for Kenya.” Praising the presence of the Indian diaspora in India and the role played by them, the Kenyan leader said, “The Indian diaspora is a great resource to Kenya.  They bring on board the diversity of Kenya and today they stopped being Indians. They are now Kenya’s 44th tribe and they are perfectly Kenyan with us. And they’ve been a great bridge between India and Kenya.” Watch the full interview on Firstpost.com at 9 PM.