Mama Sarah leads the push for Obama to visit K’Ogelo

Mama Sarah Obama speaks with Siaya Governor Cornel Rasanga at Senator Barrack Obama High School during the official opening of the Siaya Cultural Festivals yesterday. A Rugby Tournament dubbed the Obama Sevens, which is to be held at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University from July 23 to 25, is expected to mark the climax of the festivals. PHOTO | TONNY OMONDI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The governor said that students from Senator Obama Secondary School had requested President Obama to visit the institution.
  • Kenya after he promised to do so. If he gets time to come see me in K’Ogelo, I would really like that. But he is the US President, and we would agree to work within his diary,” Mama Sarah told the Nation.
  • The county government is constructing a new pavement and has renovated the graves of both Mr Obama’s father and his grandfather.

Mama Sarah Obama and Siaya Governor Cornel Rasanga yesterday used their visit to the US Embassy in Nairobi to lobby for President Barack Obama to tour K’Ogelo, his father’s birthplace, when he visits Kenya later this month.

The two will be attending the annual US Independence Day celebrations on Saturday.

“I will use this time to discuss with the embassy officials to include K’Ogelo in President Obama’s schedule. We hope to get a positive response,” Mr Rasanga said on Thursday.

The governor said that students from Senator Obama Secondary School had requested President Obama to visit the institution.

Mr Obama is expected to visit Kenya, the first such visit by a sitting US President since independence, on July 25 for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit.

HIGH EXPECTATIONS

Although there has been no confirmation on whether Mr Obama will visit K’Ogelo, preparations there betray high expectations about the coming of the region’s most famous son.

This even as Mama Sarah yesterday said that it was upon President Obama to decide if he wanted to visit the home of his father, Barack Obama Sr.

“Every grandmother is happy when a grandson visits. I am very delighted that President Obama is finally coming to Kenya after he promised to do so. If he gets time to come see me in K’Ogelo, I would really like that. But he is the US President, and we would agree to work within his diary,” Mama Sarah told the Nation.

The home is now guarded round the clock and has a full Administration Police Post.

To welcome Mr Obama, Siaya County has organised the Lake Kanyaboli Cultural event to coincide with his visit.

CULTURAL EVENTS

The one-week event will feature the Obama Sevens Rugby tournament at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University grounds in Bondo on July 23, marathons and expos to showcase Luo culture.

When the Nation visited Mama Sarah’s home yesterday, young men were busy working on the grass and the lawns.

The county government is constructing a new pavement and has renovated the graves of both Mr Obama’s father and his grandfather.

Though the structures that Mr Obama described in his book Dreams from My Father are still standing, Mama Obama now sleeps in a new million-shilling house with a 20-seater guest room.

County Tourism executive Joseph Ogutu said that the K’Ogelo home had become a valuable tourism asset.