While nations around the world have long treated Bill Gates as a head of state, it’s now been practically codified into law in Kenya. Last week, the government announced that the Gates Foundation — and its “servants” — would be granted diplomatic immunity, a privilege normally given to foreign officials, like ambassadors. The foundation’s new ‘special status’ includes “immunity from legal action for acts done in the course of official duties”, according to Kenyan news reports. Across the nation, the decision has raised alarm bells. Gates’s diplomatic immunity comes just weeks after farmer organisations and religious leaders across the African continent called on the foundation to pay reparations for the damage it has caused through its interventions in African agriculture. Daniel Maingi, coordinator for the Kenya Food Rights Alliance, believes the Gates Foundation, working with its corporate partners, now has a license to test out new technologies in Kenya — with impunity — under the banner of charity. “Gates, himself, has been walking into Kenya — in and out like it’s his kitchen,” Maingi said. Now that the foundation enjoys a level of immunity under the law, Maingi says, “Kenya becomes the testing ground... That is a big, big concern. It’s a big red flag.” Tim Schwab's Substack

 

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