Thirty years ago, Barack Obama, 27, kicked of a journey of self-discovery to learn more about his heritage and his father, who hailed from the sleepy village of Kogelo.
But when his commercial flight landed at an empty airport, he felt “tired” and “abandoned,” Obama wrote in his memoir, Dreams From My Father.
A gate agent informed him that the airline had misplaced his bags. His half-sister Auma and Aunt Zeituni Onyango picked him up in a rickety, baby-blue Volkswagen Beetle, minus a muffler.
Then Obama returned in 2006 as an Senator for Illinois and a rising star in the Democratic Party.
But Obama was derided by government operatives as “an ill-informed junior senator” for criticising President Mwai Kibaki’s anti-graft record.
Years later in 2015, Obama arrived in Kenya aboard Air Force One, chauffeured around in a heavily armored limousine, as the 44th President of the United States.
In his own words, Obama was “the first Kenyan-American to be President of the United States”.
So, as he makes a third trip to his ancestral home in Siaya county today — as Private Citizen Obama — it’s likely to be an emotional moment for a man who had very little time to interact with his father.
“My father was a foreign student, born and raised in a small village in Kenya. He grew up herding goats, went to school in a tin-roof shack. His father — my grandfather — was a cook, a domestic servant to the British,” Obama said in one of his most memorable speeches on the campaign trail in 2004.
Though there has been a lot of sprucing-up and public relations, the area remains poor. It is this poverty and lack of opportunity that Obama will be seeking to change when he inaugurates his half-sister Auma Obama’s Sauti Kuu Foundation.
It’s by invitation-only, there will be no rally.
The foundation aims to create a place for disadvantaged children and young people where they can discover their strengths and realise their full potential, especially in sports and vocational training. It includes as Sports Centre and a Resource and Vocational Training Centre.
“Given that his own mission under the Obama Foundation is to inspire and empower people to change the world, his attendance at this event at our ancestral home, where our father was laid to rest, is of great significance to me,” Auma said last week.
The ex-President landed at JKIA at about 1pm yesterday, accompanied by his sister Maya Soetoro-Ng and her family and Obama Foundation staff members.
He was met by his sister Auma Obama, Foreign Affairs CS Monica Juma, US Ambassador Robert Godec, Executive Chairperson of the Gina Din Group Gina Din Kariuki, MD Gina Din Group Lorna Irungu-Macharia and General Manager Security Services of Kenya Airports Authority Brig Gen (Rtd) George G. Kabugi
After pleasantries, Obama immediately left for State House for a private meeting with President Uhuru Kenyatta,
While welcoming the former US President to Kenya, President Kenyatta thanked Obama for keeping his promise of visiting the country after his last visit in 2015.
President Kenyatta congratulated Obama for establishing the Obama Foundation, which seeks to empower youth to become the agents of change that the African continent needs.
The two leaders agreed that the youth in Africa could become the continent’s most valuable asset if their energy and creativity are harnessed.
President Kenyatta, who was joined by Deputy President William Ruto and other senior government officials, assured Obama that he can count on the support of all African leaders to scale-up youth programs under his foundation.
President Kenyatta gifted the former US President, who is himself a noted author, with two books on Kenya’s youth and success stories in the last 50 years, namely Aspirations of a Generation - Youth of Kenya and Kenya at 50.
After inaugurating the Sauti Kuu Foundation and visiting his ancestral home in Alego Nyang’oma of Siaya county, Obama heads to South Africa where he will deliver the 16th Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in Johannesburg.
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Former US President Barack Obama during his meeting with opposition leader Raila Odinga of ODM at Kempinski
hotel in Nairobi, July 15, 2018. /COURTESY
After meeting Kenyatta yesterday, Obama proceeded to the Kempinski
Hotel where he met Opposition leader Raila Odinga.
Details of the two meetings were scarce. However, the Uhuru-Raila political truce and the revved-up war against corruption are said to have been discussed.
Corruption is a scourge that Obama has consistently warned threatens to destroy Kenya’s future.
This was his dominant theme when he delivered a lecture at the Kasarani indoor arena three years ago
“The fact is, too often here in Kenya, corruption is tolerated because that’s how it’s always been done...corruption continues to deny many Kenyans jobs. Every shilling paid as a bribe could be paid to someone who is doing an honest day’s work,” he said in July 2015.
It is unclear whether Obama will give a public address as it emerged that he will only meet a few leaders.
Sources said Raila canceled his trip to South Africa and will accompany Obama to Kogelo. It’s Raila’s political backyard.
Gem MP Elisha Odhiambo has said that only four legislators from Nyanza region would have an opportunity to meet Obama, following strict restrictions from unnamed authorities.
Odhiambo said ODM had selected only four legislators from each of the four Luo Nyanza counties.
These are ODM chairman and Suba MP John Mbadi, Samuel Atandi (Alego/Usonga), Pamela Adhiambo (Migori Woman Rep) and James Nyikal (Seme).
Meanwhile, a memorandum is to be presented to Obama either through Raila or Mama Sarah Obama.
It cites six areas for which Obama’s help is sought to alleviate the vicious cycle of poverty.
Professor Michael Mwiga, a member of the team that drafted the memorandum, said it focusses on economic empowerment through funding of various projects.
It includes affordable and quality universal education; comprehensive healthcare, opening up investment opportunities, funding agriculture, fisheries and tourism; and rapid development of dilapidated infrastructure in the region.
The meeting about the memorandum was attended by the Luo Council of Elders Opiyo Otondi and the the clergy.
Meanwhile Kisumu and Siaya counties will be on a security lock down from today. Security will be tight and some roads will be closed. Obama will land at Kisumu Airport and take a chopper to Kogelo.
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Nyanza Regional Police Commander Leonard Katana said the Ng’iya-Kogelo-Ndori road will be closed to the public.
Roadblocks will be erected to vet those who will try to breach security. Residents who live nearby will be allowed to pass but only after a thorough check.
“Do not lie to us. If you do, we will turn you back or even arrest you,” Katana said to motorists.
“I appeal to the public, this is a private function and only invited guests will be allowed,” he said.
Many residents were disappointed that they will not be allowed to get closer to their son of the soil.
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