CALM DOWN KENYANS..TANZANIA IS FLYING

IN SUMMARY

• Thus, in serving his country, Obama found himself readying for a trip to Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania bypassing Kenya, the country of his father.

While the United Republic of Tanzania and the United States of America are busy preparing for President Barack Obama’s tour, Kenyans are busy whining why Obama is scorning their country.

Kenyans are so angry because from the moment Obama took the oath of office as the President of the United States on January 20, 2009, they have been considering their country so special to the American president because of his Kenyan roots.

Definitely, based on African traditions Obama, being male, ought to recognise his father’s country and ethnicity as his, and to Africans that does not change simply because one is the president of a foreign country. In other words, despite being an American citizen by birth and an elected president, at the minimum Obama was expected to identify himself as a Luo and a Kenyan at heart.

Coincidentally, Luos are among conservative African ethnic groupings, adhering to their traditions even when everyone thinks otherwise. For instance, in Tanzania and Kenya where they are found, courts of law know them very well as people who disregard everyone’s traditional customs, and if possible even laws, to give room to theirs.

But leave the conservativeness of the Luos aside; Kenyans, perhaps due to historical trends and an attitude to embrace everything western, find it impossible to believe that Obama as a personality was created by Americans to serve Americans. Making Obama’s two elections a big deal in Kenya and marketing his roots globally has not changed this fact.

Obama considers himself an African American by ethnicity, an American citizen, and a politician. He warned Kenyans in 2006 while visiting there as a senator telling them: “I am not a Kenyan politician; I am an American politician.” But Kenyans didn’t get it.

Obama doesn’t hate his roots, but as an American president he has an obligation to serve American interests first and foremost. He was not elected to serve Kenya; he was elected to serve the United States of America.

Thus, in serving his country, Obama found himself readying for a trip to Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania bypassing Kenya, the country of his father. Why? Speculations can tell a lot, but here is a bitter fact: Obama is the third US president to bypass Kenya while visiting Tanzania.

Some Kenyan analysts put blame on President Uhuru Kenyatta and Vice President William Ruto because they are suspects. Too bad for them; was President Daniel arap Moi a suspect when President Bill Clinton visited Tanzania in 2000 leaving Kenya out of schedule? How about Mwai Kibaki in 2008 when President George W. Bush came to Tanzania?

Notably, Kenya despite being a staunch US puppet during the Cold War, has not managed to attract the attention of Washington in the post-Cold War era, even after going to war with hungry mobs in Somalia to defend American security interests.

Tanzania may have embraced the African brand of socialism called Ujamaa during the Cold War, totally different from communism, but both considered by the West as repugnant, but its foreign policy carried humanistic values and placed Tanzania on the world map in a very unique way.

Furthermore, Tanzania was the beacon of freedom-fighting in Africa, even leading and headquartering Africa’s Liberation Committee.

Likewise, Tanzania’s post-independence policies made the country a different nation state in Africa and nothing much has changed today despite some severe challenges. Frankly, Tanzania earned respect and it’s time to receive the pay-off.

It wasn’t a coincidence to see the newly-appointed Chinese president, Xi Jinping, landing in Tanzania before anywhere else in Africa and addressing the continent from Dar es Salaam. As we know China considers Tanzania a far durable and true friend more than any other African country.

In the same fashion, Obama will also speak to the whole continent, the American nation, and the world about investing in and trading with Africa. Moreover, Obama is coming at a time when several presidents will be attending a smart partnership summit in Dar es Salaam, and thereafter a first ladies’ event will follow with Bush and his wife Laura in attendance.

Kenyans should brace for more things to come because Tanzania, however humble the country is, is flying. Just look at the number of guests and the series of events that have been coming and taking place in Tanzania in the past few years!

There is a message! Kenyans, please chill out; comparatively, Tanzania is flying on the international stage!

Source: The Citizen