In an address reflecting on his family’s past and their country’s future, Obama declared Kenya to be “at a crossroads” where it can either move forward, or bind itself to harmful African traditions.
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The U.S. commander in chief was in Kenya over the weekend, where among other items on his busy schedule, he attended a dinner with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, First Lady Margaret Kenyatta, and U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice at the State House in Nairobi. Crowds lined the roadways to watch his motorcade speed through the city yesterday.
President Barack Obama’s trip to Africa began Friday with a warm welcome in Kenya, where his father was born.
“There are other things that we do not share; our cultures, our societies do not accept. It is very hard to impose on people that which they themselves do not accept. This is why I repeatedly say that for Kenyans today, the issue of gay rights is really a non-issue”. The band members referred to President Obama as “our returning son” and lamented the absence of First Lady Michelle Obama. He called government corruption an “anchor” that could weigh down the country’s promising future.
Corruption costs Kenya 250,000 jobs a year, Obama said, with every Kenyan shilling paid as a bribe one that “could be put into the pocket of somebody who’s actually doing an honest day’s work”. Obama joked that he suspects some of his U.S. critics believed he was back in Kenya “to look for my birth certificate”. But the action has been met with skepticism by the public because in the past, suspensions of senior officials have not led to convictions.
President Obama spoke about corruption, ethnic divisions, and human rights, urging Kenyans to – quote – “choose the path to progress”. He spent significant time imploring Kenyans to respect the rights of women and girls, saying that marginalising half of a country’s population is “stupid”.
And he condemned the repression of women – including female genital mutilation and forced marriage, which he said did not belong in the 21st Century – adding that the best use of development aid was to spend it on girls’ education.
The connection between President Obama and Kenya has always been an echo of his relationship with his Kenyan father, which he once described as “an abstraction”.
She relayed the story of how she picked up a young Obama at the Nairobi airport, during the future president’s first trip to Kenya, in an old Volkswagen Beetle, noting that he has returned in the presidential limousine, known as “The Beast”.
Kenya’s deputy president William Ruto still faces crimes against humanity charges at the global Criminal Court over the violence.
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“Comparing homophobia to racial discrimination, Obama said the state had no right to punish people because of “who they love”.
