The planned trip of the United States Vice President JD Vance to Kenya has officially been cancelled amid an ongoing U.S. government shutdown.
The news was confirmed by the Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary, Musalia Mudavadi, in a statement, relaying that it followed orders by President Donald Trump, who directed that no U.S. official would be attending the upcoming G20 summit in Johannesburg, South Africa.
As such, Vance's trip to Kenya, which depended on his being in South Africa, will no longer be feasible.
"The Government of the Republic of Kenya, through the office of H.E. Dr. Musalia Mudavadi, E.G.H., Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, has been informed by the Government of the United States of America of the cancellation of the planned visit to Kenya by the Vice President, His Excellency JD Vance, which was scheduled to take place later this month," Mudavadi said in a statement.
"The cancellation follows the recent decision by President Donald Trump directing that American officials shall not attend the forthcoming G20 Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, where Vice President Vance was to lead the United States delegation before proceeding to Nairobi."
In a subsequent communique, however, the Prime CS affirmed that the relationship between the two nations would not be affected by the cancellation.
He further highlighted key areas in which the U.S. and Kenya had collaborated, including trade and investment, security cooperation, education, health, and diaspora engagement.
"Kenya values its longstanding and strategic partnership with the United States, which continues to span key areas of mutual interest, including trade and investment, security cooperation, education, health, and diaspora engagement," the statement read.
"The Government remains confident that this development will not affect the strong and enduring ties between our two nations."
Vance's visit to Kenya would have marked the first official visit to Kenya by a high-ranking member of the U.S. Executive since President Donald Trump clinched the top seat for the second time.
The news of the impending visits was broken by Africa Intelligence a few weeks ago, on October 25, although his itinerary had yet to be released. He was supposed to arrive after attending the G20 Summit scheduled from November 22 to November 23.
While confirming the decision to pull out the U.S. delegation from the G20 Summit, he continued his accusations that South Africa was mistreating its white minority population.
“It is a total disgrace that the G20 will be held in South Africa,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account on Friday, referencing what he called 'human rights atrocities' against white farmers.
