First, there were the comical photos of President William Ruto staring up at the gigantic Shaquille O’Neal who, standing at 2.16 metres, is a colossus that dwarfed everyone in the room. Then the criticism when it was discovered that the Dubai’s Royal Jet he chartered cost $18,000 an hour.
When he started his 4-day state visit of The United States, Dr Ruto broke Kenya’s 20-year hiatus, following in the footsteps of the late president Mwai Kibaki who, in October 2003, was invited to visit America’s 43rd President, George W Bush. Dr Ruto is also Africa’s first president in over 15 years to embark on such a state visit. He landed in Atlanta, the capital of Georgia, and stayed there for a while.
The State gladly announced his arrival on X and has since updated tweets on his activities. “Honoured to host President Ruto and the Kenyan delegation in Atlanta, their first stop in the US! Atlanta thrives on global cultures, including our vibrant Kenyan community. As a hub for travel and history, we are excited to deepen ties with Kenya,” the state’s official X account read.
While there, Dr Ruto visited the Martin Luther King Memorial and, flanked by First Lady Rachel Ruto, laid a wreath at the crypt of the late Dr Martin Luther King. Dr Ruto then visited Spelman College, a private, historically black, women’s liberal arts college in Atlanta, where he was to lay the groundwork for creation of partnerships between Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and .
