The cessation of USAID grants to Kenya will hurt the country in the short run, but will wean Kenya off of its reliance on foreign aid and allow the country to become self-sufficient, the Primate of the Anglican Church of Kenya said last week.
Speaking on 6 Feb 2025 at St Paul’s University in Limeru at the launch of the Anglican Women’s Leadership and Research in Africa Centre, the Most Rev. Jackson Ole Sapit told reporters “I partially thank Trump for the disruption.”
The brainchild of the six pioneer Anglican women bishops in Africa, the center seeks to support the Church in Africa in its mission and leadership development through training, developing, equipping, and inspiring Africa’s faith leaders.
However, the bulk of questions from reporters following the ceremony dealt with President Trump’s plan to shutter the US Agency for International Development after audits by the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by Elon Musk, found large scale graft and corruption in its disbursements.
Archbishop Ole Sapit responded to questions about the effect of the shuttering of USAID by stating: “People have lost jobs. But deficiency in leadership is our main problem. Let that money go so that we know how to save the little we have. Because most of it is stolen before it reaches where it is supposed to go.”
“Let us be disrupted so that we think properly and manage our resources properly. Every other economy grows not in easy times but when you are faced by a crisis. They think deeper, and I hope we can think deeper now.”
Archbishop Ole Sapit said Africa needed to stand on its own feet and not rely upon handouts from the West, as few of the dollars and pounds sent by overseas governments actually reached the people.
