US President Barack Obama has today concluded his two day stay in Kenya with a televised address in which he praised the country – but also warned of challenges ahead.
He said Kenya had “come so far in just my lifetime” in economic and political terms and that corruption, terrorism and tribal or ethnic division were threats to its future.
“Kenya is at a crossroads, a moment filled with peril but enormous promise,” he said.
“Young Kenyans nowadays do not have to serve a colonial master or leave the country – like my grandfather and father had had to,” he said.
“Because of Kenya’s progress, because of your potential, you can build your future right here, right now,” he said amid applause from the huge audience gathered at the Kasarani Gymnasium in the capital, Nairobi.
President Obama warned that despite the country’s political stability, tribal and ethnic divisions could be stirred up.
“A politics that’s based on only tribe and ethnicity is doomed to tear a country apart. It is a failure – a failure of imagination,” he said also warning that corruption, which he termed as a "cancer" was costing the country 250,000 jobs.
And he condemned 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.
PHOTO:President Obama waves to the crowd at the Kasarani Gymnasium, Nairobi.
He also urged Kenya to “embrace diversity”, in what is speculated to be in reference to gay rights.
Security has been tight for Mr Obama’s two-day stay in Kenya.
The trip, which began on Friday, is his first visit as president to the land where his father was born.
Later on Sunday, President Obama will fly on to Ethiopia. He will be the first US president to visit the country. He will also become the first US leader to address the 54-member African Union (AU) on Tuesday.
AU Commission chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma described the trip to Ethiopia as a “historic visit” that would “broaden and deepen the relationship between the AU and the US”.
On Saturday, President Obama praised Africa’s economic and business potential in a speech at a business summit.
He also visited a memorial for those killed in the 1998 US embassy bombing in Nairobi.
PHOTO: President Obama hugs his sister, Auma Obama.
After holding bilateral talks, President Obama and President Kenyatta said they were “united against terrorism”.
But they differed sharply in their positions on gay rights. While Obama spoke strongly against discrimination, Kenyatta said Kenya did not share the same values.
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