By Oscar Obonyo

Prime Minister Raila Odinga and renowned US-based scholar Prof Ali Mazrui put up a spirited fight in the international media to explain why Obama snubbed Kenya on his first visit to Sub-Saharan Africa after his election as US president.

"If we would have performed better in the 2007 elections, Obama would have found it harder to go to any other African country as his first stop other than Kenya. But because we faltered in 2007, Ghana was an easy option," said Mazrui, Chancellor of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.

Until the "unfortunate events of 2007", Mazrui argues that Kenya had exhibited the best example of democracy and tolerance. He cited the defeat of Kanu’s 40-year rule in 2002, the Government’s defeat in the 2005 constitutional referendum. In both instances, the Government readily respected the people’s will.

In his address, Obama touched on the vices of "tribalism and nepotism" in the land of his father. Raila was placed on the defensive in a live BBC minutes after Obama’s public speech to the Ghanaian Parliament.

"Obama has been to Kenya and spoken about most of these issues. Indeed, Kenyans connect with his ideas. For me, Africa has, for the first time, the right man in the right place — the White House. We accordingly have an opportunity to work as partners, not beggars, for mutual benefit," said the PM.

Kenyans have nonetheless been left pondering over the Obama snub. Many followed every moment of his presidential campaigns last year and held all-night long celebrations when he was declared America’s 44th President.

President Kibaki declared a national holiday, in what mesmerised critics across the world. The PM maintained that Kenya is trying to correct the situation: "We agreed to work together under a coalition arrangement and have since replaced the electoral body that executed the rigging of elections. Separately, we also must call on our leaders to concede defeat and handover power where necessary."

Mazrui, calling from New York, summed up Obama’s speech as "tough love for Africa on one hand and that Africa has the potential".

He was particularly impressed by Obama’s declaration that "I posses the blood of Africa in me" as a prudent way of exhibiting his credentials as a friend and insider and not just a US Big Brother with a whip in hand.

Other high-profile panellists on the BBC show included Liberia President Johnson Sirleaf and Nigerian Foreign Affairs Minister Chief Ojo Maduekwe.