U.S Ambassador to Kenya Meg Whitman has rubbished claims by President William Ruto that American-based Ford Foundation funded the June-July protests in Kenya.
The American envoy said the president was “very wrong” about the Foundation.
“I thought that was wrong. I absolutely thought that was wrong. The Ford Foundation has worked in this country for almost 60 years,” said Whitman.
She said the civil rights advocate body has helped the country and others across the continent improve activism and that they “support many civil society organizations, which are very important to democracy alongside youth, religious leaders and other organizations.”
On July 19, 2024 the American NGO said its undertaking in Kenya remained transparent, and that information about the specific initiatives funded from its kitties was available on its official website.
The American organization was responding to demands made through a letter sent to its President Darren Walker by the Principal Secretary (PS) for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Korir Sing’oei.
But before Singoei sent the letter, President Ruto went public in a rally demanding for the NGO to come clean onin a rally demanding for the NGO to come clean over the violent protests.
Ruto made accusations on July 15, 2024 when he held a rally in Nakuru County.
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“I want to ask the people of Ford Foundation to tell us the intention of the money they lashing out..
We are going to call them out and we are going to tell them if they are not interested in democracy in Kenya, if they are going to sponsor violence and anarchy we are going to call them out and we are going to tell them they either style up or they leave.”
He said that his government will not spare anyone bankrolling young Kenyans to cause mayhem in the streets during peaceful protests.
“We have no use for anarchy and destruction of property. Those sponsoring that violence, we know you and I want to call out those who are behind the anarchy in Kenya, those behind sponsoring the chaos in Kenya, shame on them,” noted Ruto.
Minutes later after his public engagement President Ruto took to his X account reiterating his claims, calling out the Foundation to clear the air on the matter and rebut the allegations.
“Our youth are not available for retrogressive assignments. Those sponsoring them to cause violence and mayhem must be ashamed of themselves. We ask the Ford Foundation to explain to Kenyans its role in the recent protests,” he wrote.
Meg Whitman, however, said Ford Foundation’s leadership had been invited to Kenya for further discussions on the issue as investigations into the matter continued.
“I have been quite vocal on this with the government, and we have had the Ford Foundation general council and others here and we are working through this.
In the end, people will agree that the Ford Foundation had nothing to do with this,” she said.
“It was very inappropriate for the government to go after the Ford Foundation.”
