A good sign despite Trump’s insult

“You hit Donald along the head, and he keeps going. He doesn’t even know he’s been hit.”

That is a quote attributed to Roger Ailes by Michael Wolff, the author of the now wildly popular albeit “illegal” book Fire and Fury, Inside The Trump White House.

Now, Ailes was a veteran White House observer, who had seen American presidents come and go.

According to Wolff, Ailes was an insider during the regimes of Richard Nixon (1969-1974), Ronald Reagan (1981-1989) and George H. Bush (1989-1993).

The 76-year-old Ailes was also the head of Fox News for over a decade.

And, Ailes knew Donald Trump!

HUE AND CRY

There is currently hue and cry over words that Mr Trump, the 45th President of the United States of America, uttered in reference to some countries, including Kenya and the African continent, in general, which are quite unpresidential, to say the least.

I, however, wish to follow the advice of Ailes and avoid hitting Donald “along the head” because I don’t want him to “keep going” with the abusive, racist and ignorant slurs that have defined the few months that he has been president of the world’s greatest democracy.

I will leave that to the great people of America themselves to deal with the best way they know how.

The Americans, and, indeed many other people in the West, know Kenya and Kenyans better than the misogynistic Mr Trump. And they have demonstrated it over time.

USAID

The United States Agency for International Development (USAid), that all important organisation of the American people that decides which country across the world deserves financial assistance from the US, has, for the umpteenth time, given Kenya a thumbs-up. And that matters a hundred times more than some “s***hole” comment.

In its 2018 projection, USAid has again scheduled Kenya among the top beneficiaries of American development aid. Kenya is placed fourth, just behind Egypt, Jordan and Afghanistan.

There are obvious reasons why these three countries got higher considerations over Kenya, but given our relatively stable situation, this country appears to be at the heart of the American people.

According to figures published by AFP and sourced from  foreignassistance.gov, a website that lists all United States public and private development and humanitarian aid abroad, USAid has allocated Sh64 billion ($639.4m), the highest in the region, to Kenya.

That, indeed, is a vote of confidence in a country someone would not even imagine giving that trumped-up description. You do not put that kind of money in a “s***hole country”, do you?

And that is not all.

Just over a fortnight ago, the international community, in partnership with local stakeholders, launched a Sh9 trillion ($90 billion) project in Kwale County.

The Shimoni Integrated Development Project (Sidep) is one of the most heavily capitalised multilateral development partnerships in recent history.

ENDORSEMENT

The fact that it is being done in Kenya at this point in time is an endorsement of the country and its people. Funded by a consortium of countries in the developed world, the Sidep is expected to transform and significantly improve the living standards of the people of not only Kwale, but also the entire country. Sh9 trillion is not easily flushed down the loo!

Then there is the little matter of direct flights to Mr Trump’s United States. Our national carrier, Kenya Airways, is currently accepting bookings for the inaugural direct flight from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) to New York scheduled for later in the year.

From October 28, Nairobi will be the meeting and departing point for many East and Central Africans travelling to New York City and the journey, intended to be daily, will be taking only 15 hours.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has already paid for and received his ticket for that midmorning maiden trip!

Americans and Kenyans will soon be mingling in their two homegrounds every less than 24 hours.

And this only means closer ties. And more trust!

With these examples of growing mutual co-operation between Kenya and the outside world, it is prudent to sometimes ignore the noise that comes from less informed quarters and build on what we have for a better world.

Mr Mugwang’a is a communications consultant based in Nairobi. [email protected] @mykeysoul