Please visit us before you retire, residents tell Obama
President Uhuru Kenyatta with President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama in the Blue Room of the White House on August 5, 2014. WHITE HOUSE PHOTO | AMANDA LUCIDON
What you need to know:
- The US President’s father, Barack Obama Sr, was born in K’Ogelo.
- Mr Ondewe, a former councillor, said the K’Ogelo people’s pride and happiness would be to see and talk to Mr Obama when he is the President of the US.
Some K’Ogelo villagers are apprehensive that US President Barack Obama has not visited his ancestral home in Kenya yet his tenure is about to end.
The chairman of K’Ogelo community, Mr Vitalis Awandu Ondewe, appealed to President Obama to consider “coming home”.
The US President’s father, Barack Obama Sr, was born in K’Ogelo.
Mr Ondewe, a former councillor, said the K’Ogelo people’s pride and happiness would be to see and talk to Mr Obama when he is the President of the US.
“When I was councillor in 2005, I requested him to visit the country as Senator Obama,” said Mr Ondewe. “This is his ancestral home and he should visit again, as President.”
Mr Ondewe, who said he is Mr Obama’s distant uncle, expressed the K’Ogelo clan wishes to sit down with the President like they did nine years ago when he last visited them.
He said the Luo tradition required respected members to visit their ancestral home for more blessings from the elders.
He urged the American government to remove any restrictions that could be barring the President from visiting Kenya during his tenure.
