She said Obama’s visit is acknowledgement and a confirmation of the positive efforts Kenya has made to implement the development agenda to improve its economic and social affairs/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 23 – Foreign Affairs Minister Amina Mohamed on Thursday said President Barack Obama’s visit to the country is true demonstration that Kenya is indeed the place for the world to be.
She said Obama’s visit is acknowledgement and a confirmation of the positive efforts Kenya has made to implement the development agenda to improve its economic and social affairs.
“We are at a perfect place. Today, nobody can say anything about our image. Our image is where it has never been before. A sitting US President is coming,” she said.
“Today everybody’s eyes are on Kenya and we are not apologising for it. We should actually seize the moment and flow with it and see what we can get out of it in terms interests, investments, opportunities, and what we need to do to get to the next level,” she told Capital FM News.
She said Obama’s visit should be accorded the importance it deserves since it will go down the books of history that for the first time since Kenya’s independence about 51 years ago, a sitting US President is visiting.
In her view, Obama did not just wake up one day and make a decision to come to Kenya because of his roots.
He made the decision because there is something unique and positive about Kenya’s style of leadership and commitment to development.
“It is a good moment for us… it hasn’t happened before. It must be because we are doing well.
She added: “You cannot sit back and be complacent and say we are now at the world stage and everybody is looking at us, then we sit back fold our hands and enjoy the moment, absolutely not. In fact, this moment is going to put so much pressure on us to sustain what we have achieved and to improve it.”
Obama’s visit comes with double achievements.
Apart from the world recognition, Kenya will sign agreements with the US which will open a myriad of doors for the country’s development and other opportunities.
She said because of the visit, top world leaders, investors and businessmen were talking highly about Kenya.
“I listened to so many people in the last few weeks and they were all talking about what we have been able to achieve. Steve Gates founder of AOL was speaking about Africa and Kenya and my goodness, in glowing terms, he said that Kenya is the place to be, that is where things are happening.”
