He said that the \u2018\u2019DRC, a region of 90 million people, does not have a single cow,\u2019\u2019 and that Kenyans should exploit the opportunity offered by regional trade agreements to sell milk to Congolese. He said this while poking fun at the fashion style of Congolese musicians, who wear high-waist trousers.<\/p>\n
These comments set off a diplomatic kerfuffle and a social media firestorm, with #COT or Congolese On Twitter supporting fiery Congolese ambassador Francine Muyumba Nkanga who condemned Ruto\u2019s snide and demanded an apology. After sustained online reprimand of Kenya #COT threatened to boycott Kenyan bank Equity in Kinshasa and national carrier KQ, the most visible Kenyans brands in DR Congo.<\/p>\n
Kenya\u2019s ambassador to the DR Congo Dr. George Masafu issued a statement reiterating the great respect and regard that Kenya has for the DR Congo, and later DP Ruto\u2019s press secretary issued a statement too.<\/p>\n
But forget the cows for a minute. DP Ruto\u2019s remarks touched at the very soul of the Congolese cultural pride: Music and fashion. While the DR Congo\u2019s top exports may be tangible minerals \u2013 gold, diamonds, copper, cobalt, tin, tungsten and zinc, estimated at over $10 billion \u2013 its top cultural exports are its music and musicians.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Recent remarks by Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto suggesting that there is nothing to DR Congo beyond music and the \u2018\u2019funny\u2019\u2019 dressing by musicians caused a furore on social media, exposing the diplomatic gaffe made in the heat of local electioneering.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12963,"featured_media":2991,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,35],"tags":[7,30,37],"class_list":{"0":"post-2994","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-culture","8":"category-fashion","9":"tag-apie-project","10":"tag-culture","11":"tag-fashion"},"yoast_head":"\n