Breaking News Breaking News President Obama Can't Save Kenya | President Obama Can't Save Kenya |
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Editor’s Note: Millions of Kenyans will be waiting for President Obama to fix the Kenyan economy. But only Kenyans can help Kenya get out of poverty, writes NAM Associate Editor Edwin Okong'o.
Never in history have more people from all over the world watched a presidential race as they did this one. Much of the sensation was because it was the first time it was likely that an African American would be elected president of a country whose foreign policy affects every country in the world. But a whole lot of it was because Obama has direct roots in the African continent, specifically Kenya. There, millions will be waiting for President Obama to offer a timeline for fixing the Kenyan economy.
What Kenyans expect of Obama is based on the mere fact that his father was from Kenya, which, according to our traditions, makes the president-elect a Kenyan. Because Kenyans abroad are expected to help their less fortunate relatives, many expect President Obama to help them. They have mistaken his quest to understand his roots and the relationship he has kept with his father's family to mean that he has accepted that responsibility.
This belief that President Obama will arrive from America – as if from heaven – to end our miseries also stems from the way we Kenyans have been trained to view our leaders.
Traditionally, a president was seen as an omnipotent figure – one whose word is law.
Past Kenyan presidents have also tended to favor their tribesmen and cronies. When Jomo Kenyatta became the independent country's first president in 1963, he filled government jobs with people from his tribe. Kenyatta also poured more development funds into the infrastructure of his home area near Mount Kenya than any other region in the country.
When Daniel arap Moi took over after Kenyatta's death 16 years later, he channeled the funds to the part of the Rift Valley he comes from. Moi is said to have built roads in places where people did not own cars. Kenyans used to joke that, while the busiest highways were eroding away, the ones to Moi's hometown were so deserted that people dried grain on them.
This promise of wealth and privilege is why Kenyans went on a rampage, killing each other earlier this year when allegations of their presidential election surfaced.
Obama has said several times that he has no obligation to help Kenya. During his 2006 visit to Kenya, a reporter asked him what he could do for Kenya.
“I’m the senator from Illinois, not the senator from Kogelo (his father’s home), so I have got a different sent of responsibilities,” he replied. “They (Kenyans) have got some terrific elected officials here and they are accountable to their constituents.”
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http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=c7e1d9da39cb0f16f1460d801785a7fe
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