The 90-day suspension of foreign assistance by former U.S. President Donald Trump has left thousands of Kenyan employees connected to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) without their January salaries and facing an uncertain future.
The executive order, which affects global humanitarian, development, and security programs, has led to immediate disruptions. USAID operations in Kenya have effectively stalled, with local workers sent home and key programs halted. This sudden freeze has triggered a scramble among aid organizations to manage expenses like rent and utilities, while the threat of layoffs looms large.
“The impact of this funding freeze is devastating,” said a local USAID employee, who asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitive nature of the matter.
“We’re not just talking about our jobs; these programs are critical in areas like health, education, and security, and they directly affect the lives of many Kenyans.”
In the U.S., the effects are equally severe. A leaked internal memo from USAID’s acting administrator, Jason Gray, revealed that at least 56 senior officials have been placed on leave, and hundreds of contractors have been laid off. The memo also highlights internal disagreements within USAID, where some employees attempted to bypass the President’s directive, suggesting significant discord over the policy’s enforcement.
The suspension of funding not only jeopardizes the livelihoods of aid workers but also threatens to disrupt vital programs across Kenya. Health initiatives, education projects, and security improvements are now at risk of delays or termination, potentially having far-reaching consequences for the communities that rely on them.
With aid organizations in financial turmoil, many are being forced to explore drastic measures. “We’re looking at potential layoffs by February if this situation continues,” said an executive from one of the affected NGOs, speaking anonymously. “We’re trying to secure alternative funding, but for many of our programs, USAID was our main source of support.”
Elon Musk has declared that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) should die amid reports that two top security officials at the aid agency were put on leave for refusing his representatives access to classified materials.
Musk, who was appointed by US President Donald Trump to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), on Monday branded USAID a “criminal organisation” after security officials reportedly denied members of his cost-cutting task force access to restricted areas of the agency’s headquarters in Washington, DC.
“Time for it to die,” Musk wrote on his social media platform X.
USAID’s director of security, John Voorhees, and his deputy, Brian McGill, were placed on leave after denying DOGE personnel entry to secure areas over their lack of security clearances, multiple US media outlets reported, citing unnamed officials.
The representatives of DOGE, which was created in an executive order by Trump but is not a government department, were ultimately able to access areas with classified information following the confrontation, which was first reported by CNN, according to multiple reports.
Steven Cheung, the White House director of communications, denied that DOGE personnel had attempted to gain access to secure areas, calling a PBS report about the incident “fake news” and “not even remotely true at all”.
“This is how unserious and untrustworthy the media is,” Cheung said in a post on X.
However, Katie Miller, who serves in DOGE, appeared to acknowledge the task force’s attempted entry, writing on X that “no classified material was accessed without proper security clearances”.
The incident has added to concerns that Trump, who has placed a freeze on nearly all foreign aid, is planning to radically curtail, or even outright dismantle, USAID.
On Saturday, the USAID website went offline while a barebones page for the agency appeared on the website of the Department of State, fuelling speculation it would be subsumed into the government agency tasked with managing foreign policy.
“President Trump spent two weeks harassing and laying off USAID employees, and now his team is trying to gut the agency altogether,” Chris Coons, a Democratic senator for the state of Delaware, said on X.
“These are patriotic Americans who promote our leadership around the world. They make us safer. Trump makes us less safe.”
Jeremy Konyndyk, who served as director of USAID’s Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance between 2013 and 2017, said that eliminating USAID without an act of Congress would be unlawful and a breach of the separation of powers enshrined in the US Constitution.
“If this gambit succeeds – if Trump (or Elon) can just override Congressional statutes and funding mandates, and Congress acquiesces – it’s a very dark sign … and it won’t stop at USAID,” Konyndyk said on X.
