New investments making Kenya a hub for regional trade

This is the second part of President Barack Obama’s address at Kasarani on Sunday...

And in part because of this political stability, Kenya’s economy is also emerging—and the entrepreneurial spirit that people rely on to survive in the streets of Kibera can now be seen in new businesses across the country. 

From the city square to the smallest villages, M-Pesa is changing the way people use money.  New investment is making Kenya a hub for regional trade. 

When I came here as a US senator, I pointed out that South Korea’s economy was the same as Kenya’s when I was born, and then was 40 times larger than Kenya’s. 

Think about that.  It started at the same place — South Korea had gone here, and Kenya was here.  But today, that gap has been cut in half just in the last decade. Which means Kenya is making progress.

And meanwhile, Kenya continues to carve out a distinct place in the community of nations:  As a source of peace-keepers for places torn apart by conflict, a host for refugees driven from their homes.  A leader for conservation, following the footprints of Wangari Maathai. Kenya is one of the places on this continent that truly observes freedom of the press, and their fearless journalists and courageous civil society members.

And in the United States, we see the legacy of Kipkeino every time a Kenyan wins one of our marathons.  And maybe the First Lady of Kenya is going to win one soon.  I told the President he has to start running with his wife. We want him to stay fit.    

So there’s much to be proud of — much progress to lift up.  It’s a good-news story.  But we also know the progress is not complete.  There are still problems that shadow ordinary Kenyans every day — challenges that can deny you your livelihood, and sometimes deny you lives.

As in America — and so many countries around the globe — economic growth has not always been broadly shared.  Sometimes people at the top do very well, but ordinary people still struggle. 

Today, a young child in Nyanza Province is four times more likely to die than a child in Central Province — even though they are equal in dignity and the eyes of God.  That’s a gap that has to be closed. 

A girl in Rift Valley is far less likely to attend secondary school than a girl in Nairobi.  That’s a gap that has to be closed. Across the country, one study shows corruption costs Kenyans 250,000 jobs every year — because every shilling that’s paid as a bribe could be put into the pocket of somebody who’s actually doing an honest day’s work.  

And despite the hard-earned political progress that I spoke of, those political gains still have to be protected.  New laws and restrictions could close off the space where civil society gives individual citizens a voice and holds leaders accountable.

Old tribal divisions and ethnic divisions can still be stirred up.  I want to be very clear here — a politics that’s based solely on tribe and ethnicity is a politics that’s doomed to tear a country apart.  It is a failure — a failure of imagination.

Of course, here, in Kenya, we also know the specter of terrorism has touched far too many lives.  And we remember the Americans and Kenyans who died side by side in the attack on our embassy in the ‘90s.  We remember the innocent Kenyans who were taken from us at Westgate Mall. 

We weep for the nearly 150 people slaughtered at Garissa — including so many students who had such a bright future before them.  We honour the memory of so many other innocent Kenyans whose lives have been lost in this struggle.

So Kenya is at a crossroads — a moment filled with peril, but also enormous promise.  And with the rest of my time here today, I’d like to talk about how you can seize the moment, how you can make sure we leave behind a world that’s better — a world that we borrowed from our children. 

When I first came to sub-Saharan Africa as President, I made clear my strong belief that the future of Africa is up to Africans. For too long, I think that many looked to the outside for salvation and focused on somebody else being at fault for the problems of the continent. 

And as my sister said, ultimately we are each responsible for our own destiny.  And I’m here as President of a country that sees Kenya as an important partner. I’m here as a friend who wants Kenya to succeed. 

TOUGH CHOICES

And the pillars of that success are clear:  Strong democratic governance; development that provides opportunity for all people and not just some; a sense of national identity that rejects conflict for a future of peace and reconciliation.

And today, we can see that future for Kenya on the horizon. But tough choices are going to have to be made in order to arrive at that destination. 

In the United States, I always say that what makes America exceptional is not the fact that we’re perfect, it’s the fact that we struggle to improve.  We’re self-critical.  We work to live up to our highest values and ideals, knowing that we’re not always going to achieve them perfectly, but we keep on trying to perfect our union.

And what’s true for America is also true for Kenya.  You can’t be complacent and accept the world just as it is.  You have to imagine what the world might be and then push and work toward that future. 

Progress requires that you honestly confront the dark corners of our own past; extend rights and opportunities to more of your citizens; see the differences and diversity of this country as a strength, just as we in America try to see the diversity of our country as a strength and not a weakness.  So you can choose the path to progress, but it requires making some important choices.

First and foremost, it means continuing down the path of a strong, more inclusive, more accountable and transparent democracy. 

Democracy begins with a peacefully-elected government.  It begins with elections.  But it doesn’t stop with elections. 

So your constitution offers a road map to governance that’s more responsive to the people — through protections against unchecked power, more power in the hands of local communities. 

For this system to succeed, there also has to be space for citizens to exercise their rights.

And we saw the strength of Kenya’s civil society in the last election, when groups collected reports of incitement so that violence could be stopped before it spun out of control. 

And the ability of citizens to organize and advocate for change — that’s the oxygen upon which democracy depends.  Democracy is sometimes messy, and for leaders, sometimes it’s frustrating. 

Democracy means that somebody is always complaining about something. Nobody is ever happy in a democracy about their government. If you make one person happy, somebody else is unhappy. 

Then sometimes somebody who you made happy, later on, now they’re not happy.  They say, what have you done for me lately? But that’s the nature of democracy. That’s why it works, is because it’s constantly challenging leaders to up their game and to do better.   

And such civic participation and freedom is also essential for rooting out the cancer of corruption.  Now, I want to be clear.