Obama lectures Kenyan leaders on corruption and inequality

United States President Barack Obama

United States President Barack Obama pulled down the curtains on his historic visit to Kenya with a rallying call on the nation and its leaders to not only audaciously anchor their dreams for Kenya in hope and faith, but to also confront the demons of corruption, injustice and inequality, and fly with the wings of democracy.

At 4:27p.m., as Air Force One sped on the runway at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and into the cloudy skies on to his next stop in Ethiopia.

Having been sent off with the warm African brotherhood tradition capped by the locking of hands with his host, President Kenyatta, Obama left a powerful message of national restoration still sinking in the minds of Kenyans.

Even amidst the roar of engines of his jets and helicopters that ensured his safety long after the doors of his plane were shut, his powerful voice, gifted with rare skill of intonation, pause and delivery, still rang in the ears of Kenyans – many of who followed on television or through physical presence – as his gigantic jet lifted off to the skies.

This is because his speech touched not only on what afflicts the nation, such as the cancer of corruption and the evil of tribalism, but also the deep ties between Kenya and the United States.

Long after he had left and the disruptions on the Kenyan airspace and city roads removed, and Kenyan security and protocol chiefs were able to heave a sigh of relief, the message remained, stubbornly echoed by local and international media.

Speaking at the Safaricom Indoor Arena gymnasium at the Moi International Sports Centre in Kasarani, Nairobi – the venue of many pre-2002 political intrigues – Obama poured his heart out for Kenya.

He would later privately meet Opposition chiefs at the venue.

His speech, in his words, should be understood to be from “a friend who means well for Kenya’’.

And it came after he had narrated the story of his life, tying it firmly with that of tracing the roots of his father, to illustrate that he was neither a stranger to Kenya nor an intrusive outsider.

As if to drive the point home at the session, no one else spoke except his Kenyan sister, Dr Auma Obama, who introduced him to the crowd.

“We are happy to share him with the World because he is not ours alone,” she said of Obama, whose first visit to Kenya, she recounted, began with picking him at the same airport, but in a Volkswagen Beetle that was sagging under the weight of age and engine malfunction.

“You saw it for yourselves here when on Friday, 27 years later, he returned the favour by giving me a ride on what they call the Beast (specialised and highly secure US President’s limousine)... But do I say?” was the way she captured the moment when she became the first Kenyan to ride in this bunker-on-wheels.

Obama’s speech to Kenyans focused on inequality, corruption, tribalism, domestic violence and the exclusion of women in key public affairs.

In a 41-minute address to the packed auditorium, Obama – who seemed to have saved the non-flattering aspect of his speech for last – delivered what was a hard as well as persuasive ‘lecture’ to a packed audience that included President Uhuru Kenyatta, his deputy William Ruto, as well as Opposition chiefs Raila Odinga, Kalonzo Musyoka, Moses Wetang’ula and Martha Karua.

Message of hope

It was a message of hope for the hundreds of school children in the audience, and a call for young people to defy the status quo and culture of corruption.

The US President’s prescription for success for Kenya is that it has to build strong institutions, foster a free media and civil society, enact and uphold tough laws, inclusive development and to never neglect women who are the majority.

“Tough laws need to be in the books... People who break the law and violate the public trust need to be prosecuted, NGOs have to be allowed to operate to shine a spotlight on what needs to change. Ordinary people have to stand up and say ‘enough is enough’. If you take these steps, I promise that America will continue to be a partner in supporting investment in strong democratic institutions,” said Obama to rousing applause.

The US leader recounted one study that shows Kenyans lose 250,000 jobs a year because of bribery, instead of using the money to invest in business and create more employment opportunities. Across the country, the jobs are lost because every shilling that is paid as a bribe could be put into the pocket of someone who is doing an honest day’s work.

In a speech peppered with anecdotes on the consequences of bribery and the tragedy of discrimination based on tribe, and the folly of excluding women in key decisions, Obama’s message dovetailed with the Opposition rhetoric on exclusion in public jobs and corruption, talk that has pervaded the Kenya political sphere for the past two years of the Jubilee administration.

On inequality, he had to hark back to his ancestral backyard in Nyanza for shocking statistics about how unequal life was.

“Today, a young child in Nyanza is four times likely to die than a child in Central Province even though they are equal in dignity in the eyes of God. That is a gap that has to be closed,” exhorted the US President.

After a night of dining, dancing, fist-bumps and pats on the back, in no less a luxurious address than State House, Nairobi, Obama came back to the reality of the ordinary Kenyan and spoke boldly on what he felt afflicts the nation and its people.

Sensing that his message was perhaps hitting President Kenyatta’s administration with nearly a third of the Cabinet on suspension for graft and pending allegations against some of the ministers over multimillion-shilling scandals – Obama had to broaden the focus and generalise that his assessment of corruption was informed by his world view.

He also drew attention to the fact that the President had acted on officials suspected to be corrupt.

He said he was speaking as “a friend who wants Kenya to succeed” and pleaded with the people in the audience, including the Members of Parliament from both Houses, not to think that he was talking about them.

“I speak about it wherever I go, not just here in Kenya, so I don’t want anybody to get too sensitive. But the fact is, too often here in Kenya as is true of other places, corruption is tolerated because that is how things have always been done. People think that’s the normal state of affairs,” the head of the US Government said.

The Kenya government has been changing laws, and pushing for punitive penalties for the corrupt. It has also been cracking down on civil society.

“The pillars of that success are clear: Strong democratic governance; development that provides opportunities for all people and not just some; a sense of national identity that rejects conflict,” said Obama.

For the US President, whose government pumps in billions in aid — through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) — for democracy and governance programmes, a free civil society has to exist to make sure the world knows about the failures of the administration, and also speak for the under-served communities.

A law on the composition and the operations of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission is awaiting President Kenyatta’s assent, even though the Government is politically divided over the implications of the law in the fight against corruption and the future of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC).

“It is important that not only the low-level corruption is punished, but also folks at the top, if they are taking cuts as well.”

He also reminded Kenyans and its leaders that they should not be so intent on pushing their image and stifling other key voices that point out when they go wrong.

“Democracy is sometimes messy and for leaders, it is sometimes frustrating. Democracy means someone is always complaining about something. Nobody is ever happy in a democracy about the government... That is why it works, because it is constantly challenging leaders to up their game and to do better and as such civic participation and freedom is also essential for routing out the cancer of corruption,” said the US leader.