Kalonzo faults Ruto’s foreign policy, terms Haiti mission a miscalculation
By Mustafa Juma, September 24, 2025Wiper Patriotic Front (WPF) party leader Kalonzo Musyoka has strongly criticised President William Ruto’s handling of Kenya’s foreign policy, describing the decision to deploy police officers to Haiti as a misadvised move and a major miscalculation.
Speaking during a televised interview on Wednesday night, September 24, 2025, Kalonzo said the mission lacked legitimacy from the very beginning, noting that it had not secured the formal approval of the United Nations Security Council.
“The mission to Haiti, I reiterate, was misadvised. It did not even at the initial stages get the nod of the UN Security Council. Without the UN Security Council, that was a mission impossible,” Kalonzo said.
Also watch: UN endorses deployment of multinational security support mission to Haiti.
Kalonzo on Kenya’s image
The former vice president argued that sending Kenyan officers to Haiti projected a negative image internationally, particularly because it involved deploying Black officers to confront Black citizens.
It is worth noting that Kalonzo had earlier called on the government to withdraw Kenyan police officers from Haiti, citing underfunding and the high risks involved.
He recalled that at the time of the announcement, Haitian citizens had staged demonstrations in New York opposing the plan.
“And by the way, we must remind ourselves, at independence, we are seen to be sending Kenyans who are as dark as Haitians to go and kill each other. That looked so bad. Remember there were Haitian citizens demonstrating outside New York,” he said.
Kalonzo, who also served as Kenya’s foreign affairs minister, added that the move exposed poor judgement at the heart of Kenya’s foreign policy under the Kenya Kwanza administration.
“That was misadvice and a miscalculation on Kenya’s foreign policy. I must tell you that I had the opportunity to address the UN General Assembly (UNGA) a record seven times when I was the foreign minister, so we know these things, and nobody is taking William Ruto and Kenya seriously,” Kalonzo remarked.
Kenya’s international standing
The 2017 presidential running mate, who is now positioning himself as a frontrunner in the 2027 presidential election, went ahead to claim that the country’s international standing had deteriorated under President Ruto, warning that Kenya’s image was being badly damaged on the global stage.
However, Ruto claimed that the success of the mission will improve Kenya’s global profile.
“The image of a country is actually very important. It is William Ruto who chairs the Kenyan Cabinet, sometimes maybe on the advice of the foreign minister, and they take a position. The image of the country since Kenya Kwanza took over has suffered immensely. Nobody is listening to William Ruto,” he said.
The Haiti deployment has been one of the most contentious foreign policy decisions of the Ruto administration, drawing sharp debate both locally and internationally.
While the government has defended the mission as part of Kenya’s responsibility to contribute to global peace and security, critics like Kalonzo insist it was ill-conceived and diplomatically costly.