Raila to give lectures in three US universities

Raila Odinga

Boston, USA: ODM leader Raila Odinga embarks on the second leg of his US visit, leaving Boston for New York, where he is scheduled to deliver a lecture at Columbia University in the City of New York.

Mr Odinga’s lecture will be on challenges to Africa’s take off, he will address students, academics and diplomats.

He will later travel to Atlanta, Georgia for a number of engagements with leaders and institutions, running through most of the month of April.

His first engagement in Atlanta will be laying of the Wreath at Martin Luther King's grave on 10^th April, followed by a visit to Martin Luther King Jr. Center and a tour of the Birthplace of the civil rights leader.
Mr Odinga will then give a lecture at the Morehouse College after visiting the Interdenominational Theological Center.

Morehouse is the only all-male, historically black institution of higher learning in the United States. The College holds a special place in the nation’s history and particularly among blacks and the struggle for integration, equality and civil rights. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was a graduate of the school.

In May 2013, President Barack Obama became the first sitting president in more than 70 years to deliver a commencement address in Georgia when he took part in Morehouse College's 129th Commencement ceremony. President Obama received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the College.

Mr Odinga will address the College’s faculty and staff on the path Towards a More Perfect Alliance between the US and Africa.

The former prime minister  will then head to New Jersey where he will address students and staff of Princeton University on Africa, the Next Twenty Years.

The ODM leader says he will use his engagements in the three universities to lobby for more young Kenyans to be considered for President Obama’s Washington Fellowship as he has done in Boston and Harvard.