‘To do’ list for first global president

What else could my letter from America be about this month than the election of a Kenyan-American to the presidency of the United States, the first person of colour to hold that office?

As someone who has spent a fair amount of time in Kenya, I identified with all those celebrations in Kenya even as I participated fully in the celebrations in this country.

Inauguration

Twenty-seven years ago, another American president, Ronald Reagan, celebrated his first inauguration by declaring that once again it was “morning in America.”

For this writer, it feels a lot more like morning in America now than it did then, and clearly, for many it has seemed like “morning in Kenya” as well!

There is an important sense in which Barack Obama lays claim to being the first “global” American president with his roots on three continents.

Even the Irish have playfully claimed “O’’ Bama” as one of theirs in a song making the rounds on the net. Actually, his mother appears to have some Irish roots.

For many in this country who worked hard for Barack Obama’s election, and for many in Kenya and other countries who were hoping he would be elected, the joy at having our man about to enter the White House has a downside of worry.

Worry that his appointees will be the right people and that they will effectively translate his vision into policy, including in particular his foreign policy team. Worry that his secretaries of state and defence, his ambassadors to the UN and countries around the globe will really embody his vision for a more peaceful and just world.

Most of all, worry that expectations for the man will too greatly exceed what he and his administration can reasonably be expected to deliver. I want Kenyans as well as Americans to be as proud of him in four years as they are now.

I will now proceed to contribute, I’m afraid, to some of the very reasons to worry I just articulated, by sketching what I hope is a reasonable, yet significant “to do” list for the Obama administration with respect to Africa and the world.

1. I hope President Obama (I do like the sound of that title!) will rethink Africom, the new US military command focused on Africa. There is a new and proper emphasis these days on human security which certainly includes physical security as well as economic and social well-being. political freedom and democratisation.

So there is a sense in which defence requirements do need to be integrated with development and political reform objectives.

The problem is that the defence establishment shouldn’t be the lead agency in promoting comprehensive human security.

The state department should be the lead agency in providing backing for US support for African development because the defence requirements of African countries need to be clearly distinguished from those of the US, and those can only be reconciled through bilateral diplomacy.

Voice deficit

2. A recent president of the American Political Science Association, the leading academic organisation for more than 14,000 political science professors in the US, gave her presidential address on “the imperialism of categories.”

By this, this distinguished student of Indian society and culture meant there has been a “voice deficit” in the academy as in the world community generally for African and other developing countries.