Kenya's President William Ruto escalated diplomatic tensions with the United States on Tuesday, accusing the Ford Foundation of funding recent unrest in the East African nation.

President Ruto's accusation, made during a roadside address in western Kenya, is likely to mark a significant turn in relations between Kenya and one of its key Western allies.

Speaking from Nakuru after launching a development project, President Ruto accused the Ford Foundation, a US-based philanthropic organisation, of financing groups responsible for the recent wave of violence that has gripped several regions in Kenya.

He did not provide specific evidence to support his claims but said he would name additional NGOs suspected of sponsoring the demonstrations that have crippled the country over the last month.

"We want to ask the Ford Foundation, the money that they are dishing out to create chaos, how will it benefit them?" Ruto said in the local Kiswahili dialect."We are going to call them out and we are going to tell them if they are not interested in democracy in Kenya, if they are going to sponsor violence and anarchy, they either style up or leave."

The Ford Foundation strongly refuted Ruto's claims, stating that they do not condone violence in any way.

"We do not fund or sponsor the recent protests against the finance bill and have a strictly non-partisan policy for all of our grantmaking," the foundation said in a statement.

The Ford Foundation, which has a long history of supporting social justice initiatives globally, including in Kenya, has also faced previous accusations of destabilising nations through activism.

"While we acknowledge the right of Kenyans to peacefully advocate for a just and equitable country, we repudiate any actions or speech that are hateful or advocate violence against any institution, individual, or community," the statement added.

Dr Ruto's allegations come hardly two months since he was in Washington for a State visit where he cut major trade deals.