Ruto's bold G7 appeal rings hollow without concrete action at home

President William Ruto arrives in Evian, France for the G7 Summit. [PCS]

Depending on which side of the political divide one sits, President William Ruto’s participation in the 2026 G7 Summit, courtesy of France’s invite, has drawn mixed reactions. Some on the government side attempted to create the impression that this was the first time a Kenyan president had been invited to this exclusive club of wealthy nations.

However, a simple search confirms that former President Uhuru Kenyatta attended the event three times during his tenure. He was first invited in 2017 by Italy, then in 2018 by Canada and in 2019 by France. This year, France extended invitations to Brazil, Egypt, India, Kenya and South Korea.

Typically, the invited guests participate in the working paper sessions, implying a form of representation of the interest of various economic blocs and countries that never get a seat on this big table.

Notably, host countries seem to have a peculiar affinity for remote town. Out of curiosity, I sought to find out the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Évian-les-Bains, the host town for the 2026 summit. AI search describes the town as a small commune with a population of about 9,267 people. While it is regarded as a luxurious resort town, it is so small that France neither considers it an independent administrative region nor tracks official GDP statistics for the municipality.

This continues the tradition of small towns hosting this exclusive club of the big boys and girls economically speaking. Last year, this column examined Kananaskis Township in Alberta, Canada, which hosted the 2025 summit. Any student of Kenya’s development history cannot help but wonder what happened to the dream of a resort city in Isiolo under Vision 2030.

Could the drafters of our Vision have been inspired by the Kananaskises and Évian-les-Bains of this world? Will Isiolo one day host the African equivalent of the G7, let alone a global summit? Does the county leadership in Isiolo ever reflect on this aspiration within the country’s master development plan. 

Even development

A clear message emerging from the choice of these venues by wealthy nations is that there is a reason some countries are developed while others are not. Canada and France demonstrate beyond doubt that virtually any part of their territory can host the world’s most powerful geopolitical and economic leaders.

For better context, the G7 collectively has a nominal GDP of US$51.45 trillion (about Sh6,688.5 trillion), representing approximately 28 per cent of global GDP. If we add the GDPs of the invited five countries, then at least US$60.75 trillion was on that round table. Kenya was the smallest economy among them, at about US$147.4 billion (Sh19.2 trillion).

President  Ruto was tasked with presenting a paper on Fostering New Partnerships and Rebuilding International Solidarity. In his remarks, he continued his critique of what he considers an unfair global order, particularly towards Africa. He argued that Africa has long been characterised as a needy continent, with its opportunities understated, its risks overstated and the proceeds from its wealth banked elsewhere outside the continent. Consequently, when African countries seek funding from multilateral institutions or foreign financial markets, they often pay more than their counterparts elsewhere.

As a way forward, President Ruto argued for a case of partnership in place of dependency or alignment, sovereign equality instead of hierarchy, mutual benefits not aid, and more fundamentally, for African wealth to remain in Africa. Collectively, the optics of his submissions to the summit sounded bold, persuasive and a fair appeal to this exclusive club of wealthy nations.

Beyond the speeches delivered by the few African leaders privileged to address such forums, what do ordinary Africans think of their leaders back home? What role have African leaders themselves—both political and bureaucratic elites—played in trapping the continent and its people in their current predicament?

For instance, one of the key pillars of Agenda 2063, the continent’s development blueprint, is that Africa’s resources must be utilised for the benefit of its people. This development plan was adopted on January 31, 2015, more than a decade ago. Is it then not ironical that the continent’s spokesman at the summit landed in a luxurious jet hired from foreign capitals?

Part of the reason his participation in the summit attracted so much criticism at home is not his frequent travels per se, but rather the use of such an expensive mode of transport at the taxpayer’s expense. To many Kenyans, their president appears tone-deaf to their lived realities, and they see little tangible benefit from these trips.

Furthermore, are some of the most controversial multi-billion-shilling dollar deals not signed during such foreign visits, often with little or no public participation regarding their priorities? Why do individuals with publicly known questionable dealings continue to emerge in all the mega contracts in the country? Are these deals not often sourced from the very foreign capitals we criticise for banking stolen wealth from Africa?

It is also common knowledge that some African leaders not only stash looted wealth in the cities where they deliver grand speeches, but also use such trips for lavish shopping sprees to satisfy their exotic tastes, despite the suffering of the people they lead.

More importantly, a seat at the table of economic powerhouses is never given; it must be earned. Even when other countries joined the ranks of trillion dollar economies, the G7 has never folded but created a separate outfit that we call the G20 to preserve their exclusivity. Since its founding in 1975, the club has maintained its primary purpose as a forum for discussing macroeconomic issues and responding to global economic challenges, including the oil crises.

At Évian this week, the same issues were at the table, with President Trump signing a deal with Iran on the sidelines of the summit to open the Straight of Hormuz for oil to flow again to the nations of the world. Within the bounds of humanity, if you are going to seat at a table where the agenda is to find solutions to global macroeconomic problems, then your pockets cannot be in want. Figuratively, it would be an economic anomaly for a poor man to seat in the council of rich men to deliberate on how to restructure their empires.

Therefore, if African leaders want their speeches to have any meaningful impact at such high-level forums, they have no choice but to fix their economies at home. The world of economics does not bend to reward systems built on poor governance, bad habits and personal greed.

Simply put, President Ruto spoke ably on behalf of Africa. However, I am afraid to be the bearer of bad news: that’s just it. A global system that serves the needs and aspirations of Africa and its people can only emerge through visionary African men and women who pledge their loyalty to their citizens rather than to their private interests and greed.