Former President Uhuru Kenyatta and Tech billionaire Elon Musk/FILE
Tech billionaire Elon Musk has appeared to support former President Uhuru Kenyatta's stance of backing President Donald Trump's policy that he won't be advancing aid to foreign countries anymore.
Immediately after taking the oath of office on January 20, Trump signed an executive order reevaluating and realigning US foreign aid, saying the United States was no longer going to blindly give money with no return for the American people.
In keeping with the order, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on January 26 paused all US foreign assistance funded by or through the State Department and US Agency for International Development (USAID) for review.
Speaking on Wednesday at the Princeinn Paradise Beach Resort & Convention Center in Mombasa during the East Africa Region Global Health Security Summit, Uhuru said some countries had welcomed the news with a lot of grumbling.
The former head of state, however, said Trump was under no obligation to advance aid to any country.
"Why are you crying? It's not your government, it's not your country," Uhuru said to a loud applause.
"He (Trump) has no reason to give you anything. You don't pay taxes in America; he is appealing to his people."
Uhuru said instead of grumbling, African countries should see the policy move as a wake-up call and find alternative ways of funding programmes that were dependent on US aid.
"Instead of crying, we should ask ourselves, 'what are we going to do to support ourselves?'" Uhuru said.
He said Africa has her own resources, but most were being misused.
"It's time for us to use our resources for the right things. We are the ones using them for the wrong things."
On Friday, Musk reacted to Uhuru's sentiments with a simple "Good for him" on his X account.
Trump tapped Musk to lead his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which the president described as aiming to “slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures,” and restructure federal agencies.
However, a recent survey by Quinnipiac University said 53 per cent of respondents said they were not in favour of the Tesla and SpaceX CEO playing a prominent role in the Trump administration.