Top Americans are flocking to Kenya with just 83 days left before President Barrack Obama arrives on July 24 for the 2015 Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Nairobi.
The back-to-back visits of top US officials continues next week when Obama’s chief emissary on international matters, US Secretary of State John Kerry, arrives for bilateral talks with President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The visit of US politicians is laced with prayer as another American musical evangelist Don Moen is enjoying the sun and sand at the Kenyan coast.
Don Moen, an American songwriter, singer and pastor touched down last week with gospel singer Lenny Leblanc, in what is seen as a vote of confidence to the hotel and tourism industry, previously shattered by travel advisories.
This will be Obama’s first trip to Kenya since becoming President and is fulfillment of a promise he made that he would return to his father’s land before his term at the White House ends. His father, Barack Obama Senior hailed from Alego Kogelo in Siaya County.
It will however be his fourth trip to sub-Saharan Africa during his presidency. Obama has skipped Kenya in his previous three trips to the region.
His coming is good news to many Kenyans who feel he is a son of the land.
This week, former US President Bill Clinton and his daughter Chelsea are in the country to tour projects funded by the Clinton Foundation.
Held talks
President Kenyatta and First Lady Margaret Kenyatta on Friday evening held talks with Clinton and his daughter. Chelsea who is coming to Kenya for the first time toured Mbagathi District Hospital outpatient clinic to inspect the health access initiative.
The health programme aims at educating families on how to treat diarrhorea using Zinc and Oral Dehydration Salts.
Clinton and Chelsea later presided over the ‘No Ceilings’ debate, a women and girls empowerment initiative.
And yesterday, Clinton addressed participants at the women and girls leadership training centre in Kasarani, Nairobi.
The programme is part of the Wings to Fly initiative, a commitment that aims to build the financial capacity and entrepreneurship of youth and women in Kenya.
Just last month, Uhuru met another high-level US delegation. He met a five-member delegation of the US Senate and US Congress at State House.
New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand led the delegation that met Uhuru. The leaders discussed the war against terror, regional security, trade and investment. The visit by the Senators came months after US Senate unanimously adopted a resolution in support of Kenya’s decision not to pull troops out of Somalia. Kenyan forces entered Somalia in October 2011.
Senator Chris Coons, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Sub-committee on African Affairs, lauded the African Union’s military efforts in Somalia and pledged to support them.
