Former US President Barack Obama has described current US President Donald Trump's decision to pause foreign aid to other countries as a profound foreign policy mistake.
After his inauguration in January, President Trump signed new executive orders, including a 90-day pause on US foreign aid and the withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO).
The decision created uncertainty for many African countries, including Kenya, which heavily rely on aid from developed nations for economic sustainability.
While retweeting a news article by The New York Times, Obama reiterated the importance of foreign aid, emphasizing that it helps combat disease, feed children, and promote goodwill and that withdrawing it would be a mistake.
Obama went further to advise the US Congress to resist the move.
"USAID has been combating disease, feeding children, and promoting goodwill around the world for six decades. As this article makes clear, dismantling this agency would be a profound foreign policy mistake—one that Congress should resist," Obama stated in a tweet on Friday, February 7, 2025.
While Obama criticized Trump’s decision, Kenya’s former President Uhuru Kenyatta, on the other hand, praised the move, calling it a wake-up call for African leaders to find solutions to their own problems.
Uhuru urged African presidents to view the withdrawal as an opportunity to strengthen their nations' ability to remain independent.
In Kenya, USAID has provided emergency food assistance and therapeutic nutrition to refugee populations and host communities.
When natural or man-made disasters occur, USAID delivers humanitarian aid, including emergency health and nutrition services, safe drinking water, hygiene kits, and other relief supplies.
The United States has disbursed over Ksh80 billion annually to fund critical programs in Kenya, such as the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the Malaria Initiative, and the Global Health Security Agenda.
Additionally, the aid has created job opportunities for Kenyans employed under USAID programs.
Trump’s decision led to widespread layoffs across USAID’s global workforce. In Kenya, over 40,000 people whose jobs were supported by US government aid were left in limbo, facing the threat of unemployment.
