Hours after Donald Trump took office for a second term as US President on Monday, he made a flurry of executive orders that are set to define his new administration.
Key among them was a 90-day pause in foreign development aid pending assessments of efficiencies and consistency with his policy.
"All department and agency heads with responsibility for United States foreign development assistance programmes shall immediately pause new obligations and disbursements of development assistance funds," Mr Trump's executive order reads.
It was not immediately clear how broad the order was and what programmes, countries, non-governmental organisations, and international organisations would be affected by the directive.
The freeze in development assistance could have repercussions on Kenya which only last year signed a raft of aid-dependent deals worth about Sh10 billion with outgoing president Joe Biden.
President William Ruto, while on a State visit to the White House in May 2024, signed at least four-dependent deals with his host Mr Biden. They focused on education, health, security, climate, and trade and investment.
On climate, Kenya and the US struck a deal and launched a pact known as US-Kenya Climate and Clean Energy Industrial Partnership, targeted at lobbying and engaging international financial institutions and multilateral trust funds to identify mechanisms for mobilising investment for clean energy manufacturing and services.
As part of the climate deal between Dr Ruto and Mr Biden, it was agreed that a $60 million (Sh7,764,025,078.66) grant from the Millennium Challenge Corporation-- is a bilateral United States foreign aid agency established by the US Congress in 2004—would fund a four-year programme focusing on transportation needs of underserved groups in Kenya, safer options for women and pedestrians, and climate-friendly public transportation.
Major non-Nato Ally (MNNA) status is a designation under American law that provides foreign partners with certain benefits in the areas of defense trade and security cooperation.
Currently, 19 countries are designated as MNNAs by the US including; Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Israel, Japan, Jordan, and Kenya. Others are Kuwait, Morocco, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Qatar, South Korea, Thailand, and Tunisia.
The alliance - which is not a mutual defense pact - will bring some additional US aid, including a new $7 million (Sh 905,461,909.08) partnership to help modernise Kenya’s National Police Service, with a focus on staff and training development.
As part of the MNNA deal, the US and Kenya agreed to work together to support the Somali government in its fight against terrorism and press warring parties in Sudan for a ceasefire.
On education, Mr Biden announced plans by his administration to provide $3.3 million (Sh427,021,379.33) for a US Department of State programme for 60 Kenyan undergraduate students to study for a semester in the United States, with a focus on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
The Biden administration also revealed plans to provide $500,000(Sh 64,700,650.71) to support Kenyan students, scientists, researchers, and engineers by encouraging US universities to increase investment in relationships with Kenyan universities and research institutions.
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