OBAMA-AFRICA/KENYA SPEECH UPDATE Obama tells Kenyans they can succeed, sees challenges

Record ID: 146315

  • Title: OBAMA-AFRICA/KENYA SPEECH UPDATE Obama tells Kenyans they can succeed, sees challenges
  • Date: 26th July 2015
  • Summary: NAIROBI, KENYA (RECENT) (REUTERS) U.S. PRESIDENT, BARACK OBAMA WALKING TO PODIUM/ WAVING/ AUDIENCE CHEERING OBAMA GREETING AUDIENCE IN SWAHILI AUDIENCE CHEERING (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT, BARACK OBAMA, SAYING: "I'm here as president of a country that sees Kenya as an important partner I'm here as a friend who wants to see Kenya succeed. And the pillars of that s
  • Embargoed: 10th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAA09CQ7YTU2HNWF72E1Y2GEMPO
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Barack Obama told Kenyans on Sunday (July, 26) on his first presidential trip to his father's homeland that there was "no limit to what you can achieve" but said they had to deepen democracy, tackle corruption and end exclusion based on gender or ethnicity.
    Obama, whose father is buried in western Kenya, wants to boost business ties with Africa, one of the world's fastest growing regions. China overtook the United States as the continent's biggest trading partner in 2009.
    Obama said Kenya had a promising future.
    "I'm here as president of a country that sees Kenya as an important partner I'm here as a friend who wants to see Kenya succeed. And the pillars of that success are clear: strong democratic governance, development that provides opportunity for all people and not just for some, a sense of national identity that rejects conflict for a future of peace and reconciliation. And today we can see that future for Kenya on the horizon but tough choices are going to have to be made in order to arrive at that destination," Obama told a crowd of 4,500, many of whom had secured tickets to attend.
    After political talks on Saturday with President Uhuru Kenyatta on security and business, his speech to a packed sports hall in Nairobi struck a personal note, talking of his own experience and Kenya's in the five decades since independence.
    "There is a proverb that says we have not inherited this land from our forebears, we have borrowed it from our children. In other words, we study the past so that it can guide us into the future and inspire us to do better. And when it comes to the people of Kenya, particularly the youth, I believe that there is no limit to what you can achieve. A young ambitious Kenyan today should not have to do what my grandfather did and serve a foreign master, you do not need to do what my father did and leave your home in order to get a good education and access to opportunity. Because of Kenya's progress, because of your potential, you can build your future right here right now," he said.
    In a wide-ranging speech Obama raised the issues of corruption, in particular bribery, the ethnic fighting that killed 1,200 people after Kenya's disputed 2007 election and the Somali Islamist group al Shabaab. On Saturday (July 25), he offered extra counter-terrorism training and funds.
    Kenya's tourist industry has been hammered by attacks by al Shabaab, who raided a Nairobi shopping mall in 2013 and attacked a university in the northeast in April. Hundreds were killed in those and other attacks.
    He also warned that Kenya would not succeed without challenging some age-old traditions.
    "There is no excuse for sexual assault or domestic violence; there is no reason young girls should suffer genital mutilation; there is no place in civilised society for the early or forced marriage for children. These traditions may date back centuries, they have no place in the 21st century. These are issues of right and wrong in any culture, but they're also issues of success and failure. Any nation that fails to educate its girls or employ its women and allowing them to maximise their potential is doomed to fall behind in the global economy," he said.
    After Kenya, Obama will travel to Ethiopia, a nation brought to its knees by famine in the 1980s that now boasts some of the fastest economic growth rates in Africa.
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