3 July 2009
editorial
Nairobi — America's President Barack Obama has, for the first time, this week talked about Kenya's political leadership. In an interview whose content has been published elsewhere in this paper, President Obama was livid about the slow pace of political and economic reforms and reconciliation efforts.
Leaving little doubt about his disdain for poor governance, he rebuffed the tired song that Africa's problems were a creation of colonial legacy, saying that the problem is bad leadership. How else, he posed, could one explain why Kenya lags behind in development when countries like South Korea and Malaysia, with which it once had similar GDP rates, have grown so fast to join the ranks of newly industrialised states?
President Obama's sentiments are not borne out of his filial affiliation to Kenya, but the international community's anxiety over Kenya's slide into poor governance.
But what he said was not new. It is the view of every Kenyan, who is appalled by the inertia in government. Few things have been done to redress the past wrongs, including establishing a new electoral team, jump-starting constitutional review and starting the process of redrawing the electoral boundaries.
Major challenges remain. The resettlement of the displaced people has stalled, efforts to arbitrate over the violence after the elections are being undermined by political wheeler-dealers, while youth unemployment rises and the gap between the haves and the have-nots widens.
The public service has not been re-oriented to fit into the new order either. When things are so bad that President Obama raises his voice about Kenya, the local political leadership needs to be alarmed that all is not well and that the world is watching.
They have few options, but to push through radical reforms to create a new socio-economic and political order and reverse the country's slide to the edges.
Read comments. Write your own.
Copyright © 2009 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
This post was deleted because it contravenes AllAfrica's commenting guidelines.
All African-Americans???
All might b well but will Genetically Modified food be an eventual problem for those who cannot afford to buy It?
I think this is another Michael Jackson act; that when MJ became successful - read accepted by the mainstream white community - he run away from his identity and seemed to be embarassed by his black African roots. Likewise Obama seems to be embarrassed by his African roots especially now how he is just going to make an inconvenient stop-over at Accra, Ghana after meeting and commensirating with the more important white European Superpower Russia.
Might as well stay away from Africa. It is a familiar movie: An African-American Embarassed with Non-European African Roots.
You are talking a lot of nonsense. What do you mean he is turning into another MJ? For your information Ghana is one of the very few countries in Africa that has a decent gov't and elected in a proper democratic way. Where do you want him to go first, like Ethiopia, who has one of the most tyrant prime ministers who is butchering people every day like most of the others. Good on you Barak, please give Ghana all the support it needs.
All Africans should thank Michael Jackson, over his career, he gave hungry, destitiute swollen belly babies over 500 million US dollars to help, more than the actual governments that call themselves in existence. Please you must be one of those dirty ARABS that say stupid things and kill people in the name of your GOD. Get a life
See all comments (67).
Active Discussions: Obama Discusses Africa