A skinny kid with a funny name erupted
at the Democratic National Convention in Boston in July 2004 and enthralled
America. In October 2006 David Brooks, New York Times columnist, wrote, “the
next Democratic nominee should either be Barack Obama or should have the
stature that would come from defeating Barack Obama”.
On January 20, 2009, Barack Hussein
Obama became the 44th American to take the presidential oath. In the
last year of his second term, Obama is coming to Kenya this Friday, the first
visit to Kenya by an American president.
Obama has been to many countries,
some more powerful and strategically more valuable to the US than Kenya. But
there is no other country on Earth where his visit invokes greater emotion and
expectation, pride and symbolism. Obama’s visit is in every sense conceivable a
veritable homecoming for the world’s most powerful man.
President Obama’s father was born in Kogelo
village in Alego, Siaya County. He grew up herding goats and went school in a
tin-roof shack. Obama’s father got a scholarship to study in a magical place,
America, and met his mother, a woman born in Kansas.
The highlight of Obama’s visit will
be bilateral agreements – trade; security; technical assistance – nothing
extraordinary. But I believe there must be more to show after the ink on the
agreements has faded. Obama’s visit could yield something more enduring for the
Kenyan people.
Kenya is still traumatized by the
orgy of mindless murders of 2007. Our souls and bodies bear the scars, and the
memories of lost loved ones are eternally engraved in our broken hearts. Everyday,
through their actions and words, politicians remind us of just how ethnically
fractured we are. They remind us everyday that 2007 could happen again. They
remind us that nationhood remains a hollow, distant dream.
Our politicians remind us everyday
that public service is not about the building a better society for all but
about appropriating power and accumulating personal wealth. Our politicians
remind us everyday that this nation belongs to a cabal of the greedy and
powerful few who are not bound by ethics of laws.
Convinced that politics is about self-aggrandizement,
60 percent of Kenya’s youth will not vote unless they are bribed. Over 25
percent of Kenya’s youth believe it is okay not to pay taxes. A majority of
youth thinks corruption and ethnic bigotry is normal, and that our society has
no place for merit.
When he speaks to President Kenyatta
and leaders of the opposition he must persuade them to distrust hubris and
righteous zeal. Politics must be about conversation, deliberation and
reconciliation. National politics must be driven by the ability to persuade one
another of common aims borne of shared values.
Obama’s message on war on terror must
caution against erosion of civil liberties and extrajudicial killings. Muslims and
Somalis who have been treated unjustly in the so-called war against terror must
believe, once again, that their rights as citizens are protected under the law.
Obama and his delegation must be
mindful that any deal or agreement that comes out of this historic visit will
amount to nothing unless we turn the jangling discord our country into a beautiful
symphony of one indivisible nation.
Obama must use stature and ancestral
connection to Kenya to inspire Kenyan youth. Obama’s personal story – a skinny
kid with a funny name who dared believe that America has a place for him too –
must cause young people to aspire to be their best selves. We need to believe
in our country and ourselves again. Kenya will never again so completely
require the gifts and stature of Barack Obama.
Speaking at the White House press
conference on the Iran nuclear deal last week Obama spoke about Kenya in the
most heartfelt way. He said, “Kenya is an incredibly gifted and blessed
country”.
Obama’s historic visit must sow the
seeds of hope and aspiration in a land where politicians have fed citizens the
rotten meat of corruption and the stale bread of ethnic bigotry. We must love
and believe in this country again.
We all must find the courage to fight
impunity and corruption, and resist the stifling mediocrity of ethnic division
and hatred. Kenya must rise as a beacon of hope, liberty and equal opportunity
for Kenyans of all tribes, races, religions, men and women and yes, gay and
straight.
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