Kenya’s William Ruto and Nigeria’s Bola Tinubu have been criticized for traveling abroad a lot since they became presidents.
The two men have been described in a bad way – it’s said that they spend a lot of money on flying, which is a problem when the economy is not doing well at home.
The Standard, a newspaper in Kenya, gave Mr. Ruto the nickname “Flying President”. It means that he loves flying so much that he always wants to do it, even if he has a lot of other important things to take care of.
Last month, Mr. Tinubu went to Europe again, and Nigeria’s opposition leader Atiku Abubakar said on social media that Nigeria doesn’t need a “tourist-in-chief. ” He didn’t like that the president went on a private trip when there are a lot of problems in Nigeria.
This can be seen as a quick and easy criticism that anyone can make. Presidents have to go to meetings with other leaders and build good relationships with other countries. This is important for diplomatic and economic reasons because it can lead to profitable investment deals.
But some people have noticed that late Tanzanian President John Magufuli did not travel outside of Africa during his six years as president.
“Personal praise”
Kenyan foreign policy expert Prof Macharia Munene agrees that some trips are needed, but thinks that others are a waste of money.
Some presidents really enjoy flying in planes. He said that some of these trips are more about showing off themselves than benefiting the country.
Mr Ruto and Mr. Tinubu, along with their representatives, say that their trips are important for solving the problems they are being criticized for not addressing.
In the eight months since Mr. Tinubu became president, he has taken 14 trips, which is less than two trips each month. Meanwhile, Ruto has made about 50 trips since he became president in 2022, which is more than three trips each month.
Mr Ruto’s predecessor, Uhuru Kenyatta, usually took about one foreign trip per month during his ten years as president. This is similar to the behavior of Nigeria’s former president, Muhammadu Buhari. However, when it comes to the total number of days spent abroad, the difference is not very big.
Other leaders from different countries have also been traveling a lot by air, but people keep asking if Mr. Ruto and Mr. Tinubu really need to take so many trips.
The leaders of Nigeria and Kenya were both in Europe at the end of last month. Ruto was in Italy for a summit and Mr. Tinubu was in France for a private visit, his third time there since last May. Since that time, Mr. Ruto has gone on more trips.
In June 2023, only three weeks after starting his new job, Mr Tinubu went to Paris for a two-day meeting about the climate. He had already visited there a few months ago to take a break and make plans for the time after he became president.
He went from Paris to the UK to have private discussions with the person who had the job before him. They both went to “rest” after the elections. A week later, Mr. Tinubu went to Guinea-Bissau for a meeting with other countries in West Africa. After that, he went to Nairobi.
In August he went to Benin, and in September he went to India, the United Arab Emirates, and the US for a meeting of the United Nations before going back to Paris.
He was at home all through October and then started traveling again in November. He went to Saudi Arabia, Guinea-Bissau, and Germany at the end of November, and a week later he went to Dubai.
The Nigerian president’s office said that these trips are necessary to bring in money from other countries.
“Every time I travel to another country, I always tell investors and business people the same thing. ” Nigeria is prepared and available for doing business,” President Tinubu said in his New Year message for 2024.
Mr Ruto has been very busy traveling since he became president in 2022.
From September of that year to December of last year, he went to other countries at least two times every month. In May 2023, he took five journeys. He has visited many African countries, Europe and the US for international events and meetings with other countries.
This year in January, he visited Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Italy. This month, Mr Ruto has already visited Japan and the UAE.
Frequency and cost are both important factors to consider.
According to the Nigerian newspaper Punch, Mr Tinubu spent at least 3. 4 billion naira on travel in the first six months of his presidency. This is 36% more than the budgeted amount for 2023. The information comes from GovSpend, a civic tech platform that monitors government spending.
In Kenya, the Controller of Budget, which is a separate office that watches over how the government spends money, reported that the president’s travel spending went up a lot in the year until last July. This included nine months when Mr. Ruto was president.
Total spending on travel, both within the country and abroad, was over 1. 3 billion Kenyan shillings ($9. 2 million; £73 million) for the year. This was more than 30% higher than the travel budget for the previous year.
The person who speaks for the government of Kenya did not answer the BBC’s questions about Mr. Ruto’s trips, even though the president and the spokesman have said they are okay.
Mr Ruto said he doesn’t travel for fun. He goes on these trips to bring in money from other countries and to find jobs for Kenyans living abroad. He mentioned that he has found over 300,000 job opportunities through his talks with other countries.
After the recent visit to Japan, Mr Ruto said he had made agreements worth more than $2. 3 billion
Nigeria and Kenya are defending the benefits of presidential trips while also responding to criticism of government employees traveling overseas.
Kenya has reduced its government worker travel budget by half after being accused of wasting money on trips within the country and abroad. However, the president himself does not seem to be affected by this and has said he will continue to take trips as long as they are helpful.
Last month, the leader of Nigeria said that he will be cutting back on the number of people who travel with him for official purposes by about 60%. His spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale, said the president will reduce the number of people he travels with, but it’s not clear if he will also reduce the number of trips he takes.
However, it’s not only Kenya and Nigeria that have been worried about the cost of traveling.
As people in Congo were getting ready to vote last year, some people said that President Félix Tshisekedi took too many trips and didn’t have much to show for them.
In November, Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera stopped himself and his ministers from traveling outside the country. He also told anyone who was already abroad to come back because the country was having money problems.
Other countries, like Uganda, The Gambia, Namibia, and Sierra Leone, have also needed to deal with government officials spending money on travel since last year. The leaders of Namibia and Sierra Leone have been called the “flying president” by local newspapers, similar to Kenya’s Mr. Ruto