US-based Kenyans ponder country's future

• About 100 professors will take part in discussions on Kenyan politics, economic and social issues.

• Jendayi Frazer, the top-ranking Africa affairs official in the US State Department, to give keynote address

• ICT makes it possible for Kenyans to take part in policymaking at home.

New York, Thursday - Kenya professionals living in the United States will hold a conference on Friday to deliberate on the country’s future.

About 100 professors will take part in discussions on Kenyan politics, economic and social issues during the two-day meet at a university in Ohio State.

Jendayi Frazer, the top-ranking Africa affairs official in the US State Department, will give a keynote address on Kenya’s recovery from the post-election violence.

Also on the agenda is a speech by Peter Ogego, Kenya’s ambassador to the United States, on how those in the Diaspora can effectively contribute to the country’s development.

Kenyans in the United States can be more influential in shaping the country’s direction, according to Dr Kefa Otiso, president of the Kenya Scholars and Studies Association (Kessa).

Kessa is sponsoring the conference – the first of its kind – as a means of mobilising “the next generation of Kenyan academics,” says Dr Otiso.

"We have never had a mechanism, such as exists in the US, for translating scholarship into policy.”

"This conference will establish that.”

Communications technology makes it possible for Kenyans in North America to take part in debates and policymaking at home.

“In a global society it’s not location that matters but what you’re willing to do.”

Together with three other professors, Dr Otiso formed Kessa last year. They are: Dr Maurice Amutabi, Dr Francis Koti and Dr Gichana Manyara.