Visits by US President Barack Obama and the Pope Francis must ignite hope for Kenyans

Kenya is galvanised with exuberance following confirmed visits of US President Barack Obama and His Holiness the Pope Francis, head of the Roman Catholic Church, this year.

While the two are coming for distinct commitments – the former for the 6th annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit and the latter making his maiden pastoral visit to Africa – these are defining moments underlining Kenya’s increasing status in sub-Saharan Africa and the world.

Both leaders, probably the two most influential individuals in the global socio-political and spiritual realms, have whipped the country into a collective frenzy.

The visits have integral implications to Kenya’s socio-econo-political and cultural setting. To many Kenyans, Obama’s lineage makes his visit more of a homecoming than fulfillment of commitment to Africa on trade and investment.

Through the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES), part of that commitment, the meeting of entrepreneurial, government, foundations, social entrepreneurs, business people, venture capitalists and foundations will benefit the investment space in Kenya.

Obama’s moniker as leader of the world, charged with global responsibilities to shape the world around democratic values and ideals of equality among all, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and the right to pursue happiness is hugely expected to illuminate positively on Kenya’s growing democracy.

Pope Francis’ apostolic visit to Kenya is profound not only to the Kenyan Catholic faithful but the Christian fraternity at large. The Pope is not only the supreme pontiff on earth, he symbolises hope itself. His presence will bolster the ethical, moral, and inspiring traditions of faith in Kenya and the region, bringing peace, a new ray of hope and spiritual bliss.

These visits come at an opportune time when Kenya is working earnestly to promote national unity through processes and policies encouraging elimination of all forms of ethnic discrimination irrespective of background, social status, race and ideological inclination.

If the 2007 post-election violence opened the Pandora’s Box of ethno-centric sensitivities, undercutting the national common good, exposing our economic underbelly, pushing us to the periphery of international pariahdom through an ICC litigation process, then these visits should be seen as a vindication of our country’s restoration process.

According to the White House, “Kenya’s selection as the location for this year’s Summit highlights the country’s role as an economic leader in East Africa and the dynamism and innovation that characterises Kenya’s entrepreneurship ecosystem”.

With diverse low-hanging fruits expected to spark innovative enterprises, these high-profile visits will  create an understanding of the close co-relation between a National Values System to economic and social stability, improved institutional effectiveness, a strengthened democratic process, and a strong national identity – all of which are a precursor to creating an enabling environment for achievement of business and social dreams.

Certainly, Kenya’s Constitution, in Article 10 of the Constitution seeks to ensure this is achieved by codifying a set of values and principles geared towards unifying and integrating Kenyans into a cohesive society guided by national values and the principles of governance.

In Obama’s political triumph in a world’s most advanced political civilisation and Pope Francis’ expected interfaith reconciliation, both visits could serve as lessons to appreciate our own underestimated diversity, which provides this country with strengths of proportional magnitude and submits to put in place measures that enhance ethnic acceptance and accommodation of other emerging identities.

Kenya is on the cusp of a transformation, only determined by our ability to unite as a nation and around our common aspirations. To echo President Uhuru Kenyatta, “Kenya is not a collection of 42 tribes who have to live together”. Let’s work together and build a united Kenya leveraging on the tremendous potential for growth and development.

This will not only earn us respect in the global stage but will also help build structures that will improve the lives of Kenyans in social, political and economic spectrums.

- The writer is a Nominated MP, national chairman of TNA and chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Cohesion