Obama should use visit to champion the role of civil society in governance

In three weeks, Kenya will welcome Barack Obama on his first visit to his father’s homeland as US President. This is a big deal for Kenya and President Obama, this being the first visit by a sitting US president to Kenya.

And it comes at a time when President Obama is riding high. His pet “Obamacare” health project, providing healthcare for millions of people previously not covered, has been endorsed by the US Supreme Court, a feat dreamt of — but not achieved — since the 1940s when FD Roosevelt was president.

The US economy has found its feet and unemployment is at about 5 percent. (We have in excess of 40 percent unemployment in Kenya). BP Oil has agreed to pay out about $19 billion in compensation for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, having paid out $4 billion in fines already.

His rapprochement with Cuba is gaining popularity, and should see Cuba improve its economy and possibly increase political space.

And for someone born of a marriage that was illegal in many states in the US until recently — simply because of race — the ruling by the Supreme Court endorsing same-sex marriages of consenting adults is the icing.

These successes inevitably raise the expectations for this visit, which were already high given his global celebrity status, and the fact that he is, incredibly, the first black president of the US.

He comes officially to attend the Global Entrepreneurship Forum, endorsing the role of the private sector in society. We hope that he comes with many companies in tow so that investment deals can be struck — hopefully as beneficial to Kenyans as they are to the investors.

President Obama’s Presidential Memorandum on Civil Society released in September 2014, in which he reasserted the central role of civil society in governance, democracy and development, also raises expectations. He will probably hold a meeting with civil society representatives as he does in every country he visits. Interestingly, countries that respect civil society space inevitably respect space for business, but not necessarily vice versa, as the China model shows.

But he should take an extra step and signal support by separately meeting the civil society representatives that the Kenyatta regime terms the “evil society” simply for their advocacy against impunity; for wanting our elections to be carried out to the highest standards demanded by our Constitution; and for trying to hold the regime accountable for the extrajudicial executions, extortions and use of colonial concentration camps in its ostensible war against terrorism. And these should include representatives of Muhuri and Haki Africa.

In fact on terrorism, President Obama should remind us not to make the same mistakes the United States made after September 11, 2001.

The Bush regime’s erroneous decision to sacrifice justice for security resulted in both justice and security being compromised. Yet, the best way to fight terrorism and extremism is to ensure that ordinary citizens feel they have stakes in the system, which can be peacefully challenged. Banning and attacking critical NGOs sends the exact opposite message.

President Obama’s messages will be heard globally and the ideal follow-up to his wonderfully eloquent eulogy in South Carolina recently — complete with singing “Amazing Grace” — would be highlighting the parallels between racism and exclusion in America with our own tribalism and xenophobia that haunts and divides us, keeping Kenya a permanent fragile state.

For the core of both racism and tribalism is privilege and corruption for a few — with poverty for the many — making it an even bigger threat to our national security than terrorism.

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