It will be both a poignant and historic moment when American President Barack Obama lands on Kenyan soil on Friday.
This visit is important not just because President Obama will be the first sitting US leader to visit Kenya, but because his will be a homecoming of sorts to the land of his father.
It has been a long-awaited call. Soon after his election, Mr Obama promised to visit Kenya during his tenure, but a confluence of events kept him away.
He did not make it during his first term in the White House, but now as he begins to wind down his second and final stint, he is finally making that trip.
Officially, President Obama is here to attend the sixth edition of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, but beyond the gathering of entrepreneurs, business leaders, innovators, and government officials will be a lot of bilateral issues.
This watershed visit serves as an indication that it is time to move beyond the factors that poisoned relations between Nairobi and Washington since the election of the Jubilee coalition government.
President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto were elected in 2013 while under indictment of the International Criminal Court on charges related to the 2007-2008 post-election violence.
They came to office on the back of very strong indications that the White House would not maintain normal relations with leaders facing charges of crimes against humanity, culminating in the infamous “choices have consequences” warning ahead of the polls.
Kenya has since the Kibaki presidency pursued a “Look East” policy that has been pushed even more aggressively under President Kenyatta.
The policy has indeed borne fruit, but there has also been the inescapable realisation that closer diplomatic and trade ties with China, India, and Russia does not have to come at the expense of established links with the US and other Western nations.
The US has in turn had to acknowledge that it cannot afford to lose Kenya to new courtiers and neither can it afford to abandon a country that is a vital regional communications, security, trade, and economic fulcrum.
If Nairobi and Washington have drifted apart, President Obama’s repair of the bonds is of great importance to both countries. But that must not be seen in terms of either partisan local politics or other foreign relationships.
Kenya’s interest lies in retaining friends and partnerships across global geopolitical divides.
Staging and production for a global summit in Kenya where President Barack Obama will speak are costing taxpayers $7 million.
Obama is making his first presidential visit to the African country to attend the sixth Global Entrepreneurship Summit, which is being held at the United Nations office near the U.S. embassy in Nairobi on Saturday and Sunday.
According to government contracts, staging, teleprompters, break out rooms, prayer rooms, and other logistics for the two-day event will cost $7 million.
A justification and approval document issued by the Department of State on Wednesday showed that the agency hired Hargrove Productions, a special events company based in Maryland, to run the event.
The contract called for “visually compelling, distinctive summit branding within event and meeting space and around the venue.”
Among the amenities needed for the summit include providing a stage for the main hall to fit 1,500 people, as well as a “podium, teleprompter, press risers, cameras, backdrop décor, audio, and broadcast-quality lighting.”
The company will also provide 50 workstations for U.S. government employees, breakout rooms, workshop space, WiFi, on-site catering for 1,500 attendees, and prayer rooms.
According to the document, Hargrove Productions has a “long history with providing services to State Department staff and the White House,” and helped run the Combating Violent Extremism summit held at the White House in February.
The State Department said the summit is a “one time event that was recently announced and did not allow the DOS the ability to plan months in advance,” explaining its decision to award the contract outside the normal competitive bidding process.
The Global Entrepreneurship Summit is an annual event that President Obama kicked off during his speech in Cairo in 2009. The State Department said this year’s summit will “bring together thousands of young entrepreneurs along with businesses, government, investment banking and private/public partnership leaders.”
Previous summits were held in Washington, D.C., Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, and Morocco, before landing in Kenya this year.
The visit marks the first for Obama, who has several half siblings and other relatives living in Kenya, during his presidency.
Kenyans are reportedly so excited about his visit they are changing the ringtones on their cellphones to audio of Obama reading a speech.
