He suggested three pillars of Kenya’s progress namely: Strong democratic governance; development that provides opportunity for all people – not just some – and a sense of national identity that rejects conflict for future peace and reconciliation.
Below is a synopsis of these pillars and their implication on Kenya’s future progress and democracy.
Deepening democracy
Obama told Kenyans democracy begins with a peacefully-elected government – it begins with elections. For democracy to succeed, he said, there also has to be space for citizens to exercise their rights, and the ability of citizens to organise and advocate for change. This, Obama said, is the oxygen upon which democracy depends. But the American President also asked Kenyans to be patient and tolerant with democracy’s paradoxes. Democracy, Obama said, is sometimes messy, and for leaders, sometimes it’s frustrating. “Democracy means that somebody is always complaining about something,” Obama told Kenyans across the country. “Nobody is ever happy in a democracy about government,” Obama stated. “If you make one person happy, somebody else is unhappy.” Obama told his audience that that is why democracy works. “It’s constantly challenging leaders to up their game and to do better,” he said.
The first pillar also included tribalism and ethnicity as drawbacks to Kenya’s democracy and progress. Obama told Kenyans that “a politics that’s based solely on tribe and ethnicity, is a politics doomed to tear a country apart. It is a failure, a failure of imagination”. He vilified corruption and urged Kenyans and their leaders to take action. He said in Kenya, corruption is tolerated “because that’s how things have always been done”. “People just think that is sort of the national state of affairs,” he said. But Obama observed that “corruption holds back every aspect of economic and civil rights. It’s an anchor that weighs you down and prevents you from achieving what you could”. To combat corruption, action is needed not only on low-level corrupt officials, but folks at the top as well. Said Obama: “People who break the law and violate the public trust need to be prosecuted and ordinary people have to stand up and say, enough is enough.”
Inclusivity
Inclusivity is Obama’s second pillar of Kenya’s progress. In his speech, the American President called for development that extends economic opportunity and dignity for all of Kenya’s people – not just some. As in America — and so many countries around the globe — Obama noted economic growth has not always been broadly shared. Sometimes people at the top do very well, but ordinary people still struggle. He gave two examples from Kenya: Today, he said, a young girl in Nyanza province is four times more likely to die than a child in Central province — even though they are equal in dignity and in the eyes of God. “That’s a gap that has to be closed,” Obama urged. In the other example, Obama observed that a girl in Rift Valley is far less likely to attend secondary school than a girl in Nairobi. “That’s a gap that has to be closed,” he urged.
Obama said America was more interested in empowering youth and women because “the youth are not weighed down by the old ways”. “We’re investing in the young people of Kenya and the young people of this continent," he said, “they are creating a new path and they are the elements for success in this 21st century.”
Obama also defended the rights of women and girls, noting that around the world, there is a tradition of repressing women and treating them differently, and not giving them the same opportunities – and husbands beating their wives, and children not being sent to school. He wanted these traditions changed because: “Treating women and girls as second-class citizens are bad traditions. They are holding you back,” he told Kenyans.
Similarly, Obama castigated sexual assault or domestic violence, genital mutilation among young girls, and enforced marriage of children, and asked for these traditions to be changed. “Any nation that fails to educate its girls or employ its women and allowing them to maximise their potential is doomed to fall behind in a global economy,” Obama said. He told Kenyans communities that give their daughters the same opportunities as their sons are more peaceful, more prosperous – they develop faster, and they are likely to succeed. “That’s true in America," he said, “that’s true here in Kenya.” If Kenya wants to succeed, he said, it should not treat women and girls “as second-class citizens”.
Fighting extremism
This is Obama’s third pillar of Kenya’s progress. Obama suggested to Kenyans to choose a future of peace and reconciliation, and reminded them that violent extremists want communities to turn against one another because they know they’re a small minority who can’t win conventionally. “What they try to do,” Obama said, “is target societies where they can exploit divisions.” To defeat extremism, Obama urged communities to stand together for something different. He asked Kenya – a country with Muslim populations like America — to appreciate the enormous contributions they have made to the country. “They’re our brothers and sisters,” he noted. “We’re to reject calls that allow us to be divided,” Obama said in relation to Kenya’s fight against extremism.
Obama also asked Kenyans to appreciate diversity as a source of strength, not a weakness. Quoting the slain American civil rights leader Martin Luther who called on people to be judged not by the colour of their skin but the content of their character, Obama told Kenyans people should not be judged by their last name, or their religious faith – but the content of their character and how they behave. “Whatever the challenge, you’ll be stronger if you face it not as Christians or Muslims, Maasai, Kikuyu, or any other tribe – but as Kenyans,” he said. “This is what will help you root out corruption. That’s what will help you combat inequality. That’s what will help you extend opportunity; and educate youth, and face down threats, and embrace reconciliation,” he said to Kenyans as they cheered and applauded.
Obama came to Kenya, saw what he had to see, did what he had to do, and departed. Pessimistic adversaries who might have doubted Obama’s commitment to the suggested pillars of Kenya’s progress, can be assured that Obama meant what he said. In his own words, this is what he assured Kenyans: “I’m here as President of a country that sees Kenya as an important partner,” he said, “I’m here as a friend of Kenya who wants Kenya to succeed.”
The question now is whether or not Kenyans and their leaders shall support Obama’s three initiatives toward this country’s progress and democracy. If they do, Obama shall have something to crow about Kenya — he shall have left an indelible legacy to Kenyans and to his father’s land, as he prepares to vacate the highest political office on earth — the President of the United States of America — in the next 18 months.
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