The total freeze on foreign aid announced and implemented overnight by Donald Trump for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is creating havoc in all the developing countries in the world, and especially in Africa.
As far as Kenya is concerned, almost three weeks after the decision by Trump and his government, despite the fact that the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has made some exceptions for emergency humanitarian aid, the institutions and various local non-governmental organisations have sounded the alarm, especially in the field of healthcare.

There are certainly underlying reasons for the choice of a decision-maker, provocateur and bold strategist like Trump, knowing also the waste and the various steps of donations, which always leave too many resources on the road.
But it is also true that to stop a system from one day to the next, including many ongoing projects and initiatives, to block emails, to cut ties and to leave without support even those who work for the good of the people and not of governments, is very dangerous. Humanitarian workers and United Nations officials themselves have stated that the exemptions have caused widespread confusion, along with fears that US funding would never be restored.
In Kenya, the first to protest were the heads of the government drug supply company, KEMSA. The company warned that the USAID block had suspended the supply of anti-AIDS and HIV medicines and treatments. Considering that in Kenya aid concerns the health and often also the life of 1.5 million citizens, the concern is clear. The stocks of antiretrovirals will last for a few more months and it is not clear whether this aid represents the famous ‘humanitarian emergency provisions’ mentioned by Rubio. According to the director of KEMSA, Wago Ejersa, this decision could affect the lives of thousands of people whose lives depend on treatments that they would otherwise not be able to afford.

Not just HIV. There is also concern about malaria. In this case, it is children and newborns that are the cause for concern. It is not just a question of supplying drugs, but above all of treated mosquito nets, which have saved thousands of lives in recent years, because public hospitals often do not have them and it is also there that paradoxically there is the highest risk for mothers and children, as well as for vulnerable people.
The aid also includes insecticides and Kenya, like Ghana, has already protested the blocking of these supplies. A USaid memo, viewed by the Reuters press agency, states that ‘life-saving activities’ to tackle malaria, tuberculosis and other diseases and conditions would be exempted from the freeze. But in fact the campaigns to protect millions of people have been put on hold while humanitarian workers have asked for clarification on when specific programmes and funding will resume. For now, nothing has been revealed from Washington that hasn't already been made public, namely that the taps have been turned off.

This also affects the jobs of thousands of people. In Makueni a company that worked with USAID has laid off 260 local employees, and other organisations are in limbo, not knowing when they will be able to resume their activities with the same efficiency and above all with salaries for everyone.
Among fellow journalists in Africa, it was said a few days ago, joking but not too much, that many other projects, especially construction projects, will probably slow down and come to a halt in the coming months. Just as some executives, officials and middlemen will revise their expectations downwards and perhaps sell their shiny SUV to go back to the rickety sedan. Unless Elon Musk or some other demigod finds another way to continue doing good and at the same time feed the upper-middle class that is the one that buys and spends, as well as surfing on X and putting Starlink at home.

(Photo: Usaid Nairobi Facebook Page)