Washington: A part of Barrack Obama's heritage lies in Kenya. And on Thursday, it will be the third time he sets foot on the soil of his forebears, the first as president of the United States. The first time he went there he was met at the airport by a half sister and an aunt. “Welcome home”, the aunt said. It’s not clear if it was a mission accomplished then, for he went there to fill “a great emptiness” - He really wanted to know his heritage, who he was, and where he fit in. They traveled from the airport in an old Volkswagen Beetle and the silencer fell off during the ride into town!. As the aunt got out to go to work, she chided Obama not to “get lost again.”
During the visit, he experienced African hospitality and hostility. He slept on the sofa in the living room of his half sister, Auma, a professor at the University of Nairobi. He met most of his relatives, went to his father's village, and even met his grandfather's last wife Mama Sarah. He called her Granny. But he also witnessed hostility and division between the various wings of his family and travelling around the country brought him in contact with the hostility between the Luo and Kikuyu tribes and between Africans and Asians. Now, twenty-eight years later, he is the POTUS and on Thursday he returns there – No Volkswagen Beetle this time, but a long motorcade that includes an armored car. It was in 2006 that Obama returned to Kenya as a new senator, surrounded by media and a motorcade. That was but a miniature rehearsal of the current visit.
Is he still confused? Difficult to say.
Obama was born in Hawaii. And at the start of his presidency, he was at the center of a mysterious rumor that said he was born in Kenya and thus ineligible to be the president. He kicked the rumor in the butt with a press briefing in 2011 that handed out a copy of his birth certificate that said he was born in Hawaii!
He has, truth been told, enjoyed being celebrated as a son of Africa, though it has complicated his political identity. But what do the Africans think of him and his contributions to their impoverished continent?
He is now into his second term, but during his first term, he avoided controversy, refusing to give in to his instincts to visit the land of his forebears. He spent a day in Africa far away from Kenya and didn't do much for the continent – or that's how some of the natives feel.
But now he seems interested. Last year saw him hosting a summit meeting in Washington for African leaders and recently batting for a renewal of an African trade preference program when it came before Congress.
Obama's African legacy
Obama is the first president to visit either Kenya or Ethiopia where he will go, after Kenya, while in office, and he is pushing for democracy, security and development. His Power Africa electrification program and his Feed the Future effort are the key initiatives that he is seeking to push during the visit. With this visit he would have made more trips to Africa than any of his predecessors.
“President Obama’s record on Africa will not only match that of his predecessors but, I will predict with confidence, will exceed it,” Susan E. Rice, his national security adviser told the New York Times.
Democracy and its principles will be high on his agenda, or should be, when he meets with President Uhuru Kenyatta, of Kenya, who had been charged with crimes against humanity for instigating ethnic violence until the case was dropped last December and Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn of Ethiopia, whose party and its allies won 100 percent of the seats in Parliament.
Obama had commenced his Electricity initiative in 2013 but the ground reality has not reflected its stated objectives so far. Ms. Rice however defended the program, saying that the program had been slow to get off the ground but was now “building up strength and capacity,” adding, “This is going to take time.”
Emotionally charged
"Dreams of my father: a story of race and inheritance", a book Obama wrote in 1995 as he was preparing to run for the IIinois senate, recalls his African roots, but its only now, when he returns to the land of his fore fathers, will he likely have to face up to the emotions it stirs.
“Obviously, Kenya holds a special place for him, and it was central to that first book and, I think, central to his self-exploration,” said David Axelrod, Mr. Obama’s former White House senior adviser. “And I think he also knows what he represents there.”
Obama met his father only once, when he was 10, but he felt connected through him with Kenya and went there for the first time as a young man in 1987.
"Dreams of my father: a story of race and inheritance", a book Obama wrote in 1995 as he was preparing to run for the IIinois senate, recalls his African roots, but its only now, when he returns to the land of his fore fathers, will he likely have to face up to the emotions it stirs.
“Obviously, Kenya holds a special place for him, and it was central to that first book and, I think, central to his self-exploration,” said David Axelrod, Mr. Obama’s former White House senior adviser. “And I think he also knows what he represents there.”
Obama met his father only once, when he was 10, but he felt connected through him with Kenya and went there for the first time as a young man in 1987.
Burton, another former aide, said Kenya had shaped Mr. Obama’s identity as an African-American. “It’s obvious if you read his books, if you listen to what he’s said about his own biography, Kenya plays a very big role in how he thinks about the world and how he thinks about his relationship with other Americans,” Mr. Burton said.
Last week, Obama acknowledged that the visit could never be as it was when he first visited as a young man. Obviously he can’t go to his father's village, nor visit his grandfather's last wife Mama Sarah. However, they will be brought to him. That is the price of high office.
“It’s obviously something I’m looking forward to,” he said at a news conference. “I’ll be honest with you, visiting Kenya as a private citizen is probably more meaningful to me than visiting as president, because I can actually get outside of a hotel room or a conference center. And just the logistics of visiting a place are always tough as president. But it’s obviously symbolically important.”
Last week, Obama acknowledged that the visit could never be as it was when he first visited as a young man. Obviously he can’t go to his father's village, nor visit his grandfather's last wife Mama Sarah. However, they will be brought to him. That is the price of high office.
“It’s obviously something I’m looking forward to,” he said at a news conference. “I’ll be honest with you, visiting Kenya as a private citizen is probably more meaningful to me than visiting as president, because I can actually get outside of a hotel room or a conference center. And just the logistics of visiting a place are always tough as president. But it’s obviously symbolically important.”
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