Kenyan President William Ruto has denied mocking Nigerians over their use of the English language, saying his widely criticised comments were misrepresented and taken out of context.
Ruto made the clarification on Tuesday while receiving Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, at the Kenya Mining Investment Conference and Expo in Nairobi.
“I was misquoted. It was supposed to be a private conversation, but somebody decided that it should be public. They also misrepresented the facts,” the Kenyan president said.
The remarks he sought to distance himself from were made last week while he was addressing Kenyans living in Italy, where he praised Kenya’s education system before appearing to ridicule Nigerian English.
“If you listen to a Nigerian speaking, you don’t know what they are saying. You need a translator even when they are speaking English,” he had said, drawing laughter from his audience.
The video circulated widely online and drew sharp criticism from Nigerians who accused Ruto of demeaning their accent and linguistic heritage.
In his clarification, Ruto reframed the comment as a compliment to African English broadly, insisting that Nigerians speak excellent English. He further sought to ease tensions by referring to Nigerians as his in-laws, in apparent reference to his daughter’s marriage to a Nigerian national, and asked Minister Tuggar to convey his personal regards to President Bola Tinubu.
He expressed hope that the incident would not affect the relationship between Kenya and Nigeria.
