By Issa Hussein - Reporter
France, 16 June 2026 - President William Ruto used his lead intervention at the G7+ summit on Monday to press for a fundamental reset in Africa’s relationship with global powers, arguing that the continent is no longer seeking aid but equal partnership.
Speaking during the working session on “Fostering New Partnerships and Rebuilding International Solidarity” in Evian, France, the President said Africa is rejecting old models based on hierarchy and dependency.
The new approach, he explained, must be grounded in sovereign equality, mutual benefit, and shared prosperity. Africa, he added, wants to act as a co-author of the global future, not as a beneficiary or spectator.
Ruto told G7 leaders that the continent has for too long been viewed through a lens of need, with its risks overstated and opportunities ignored. Decisions about Africa’s future have often been made without African input. That era, he said, is ending.
He pointed to the 2023 Africa Climate Summit as a turning point, where leaders resolved to position the continent as an architect of solutions to climate change rather than a victim.
The President said Africa’s growth is being held back by unfair access to finance. While multilateral development banks are valued partners, their capital falls short of the continent’s ambitions.
He stated that African nations also face borrowing rates far higher than peers with similar fundamentals, a disparity he attributed to outdated assumptions about risk. The consequence is stalled projects and deferred growth.
But Ruto emphasized that Africa is not waiting for external fixes. The continent is building its own multilateral financial institutions to mobilise capital it already holds. Across banks, pension funds, insurers and reserves, Africa has more than four trillion dollars in financial assets.
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“The challenge is not a lack of money, but the absence of risk frameworks to convert short-term savings into large-scale, long-term investment,” he said.
Strengthening risk-sharing mechanisms to attract both domestic and foreign capital is another priority, he said.
He explored how Kenya itself has mobilised nearly $9 billion for affordable housing and $1.5 billion for universal healthcare, demonstrating that development must start at home.
Ruto called on G7 nations to match Africa’s efforts by backing its institutions through guarantees and risk-sharing instruments. He cited the African Trade & Investment Development Insurance (ATIDI) as an example of an institution that can deploy such support effectively. Guarantees, he noted, are more than funding. They build confidence and can unlock multiples of their value in mobilized resources.
He closed by rejecting narratives that frame Africa as a problem or a burden. The continent, he said, is the greater part of the solution and an asset to global prosperity, not a debt owed by former colonial powers.
The G7+ session brought together G7 members and invited states to discuss global cooperation amid shifting economic and geopolitical conditions.