Security tight at JKIA ahead of Barack Obama visit

Security at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport has been beefed up, hours before US President Barack Obama arrives for his three-day visit.

The main entrance is marked by gun-wielding security officers, who are not leaving anything to chance as they scan and screen incoming vehicles and passengers.

Interestingly, just next to this gate is a conspicuous blue truck being loaded with "harvested" chunks of grass.

A group of about 10 workers can be seen loading the grass onto the truck.

GREEN CITY

The chunks look like small green door mats and below the truck is a patchwork of the freshly carpeted grass on what used to be bare soil.

This is perhaps an indication of the last-minute efforts to green the city in the wake of several sign posts that the Nairobi City County government has erected warning the public to “keep off the grass”.

The sign posts on Monday touched off a social media frenzy and tongue-in-cheek jokes about "Kidero grass".

Inside the airport, uniformed police offers are on guard, with several police vehicles parked at entry and exit points.

Despite trying to blend in, plain-clothes security officers stick out conspicuously with their dark eyeglasses and subtle security gadgets in their ears.

TOUCH DOWN

Up above, Kenyan and US flags sway to the July cold as the time ticks before President Obama touches down for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit.

This will mark his first visit as president to his late father’s homeland.

The otherwise busy Mombasa Road is deserted, with little human and vehicle activity.

However, along Uhuru Highway, next to Nakumatt Mega, women are seen painting the metal fences along the road as their counterparts water vegetation.

Armed Kenyan police officers together with their American counterparts were seen patrolling the city’s uptown areas, where many of the delegates attending the Global Entrepreneurship Summit will lodge.

Security was exceptionally tight in areas near some key plush hotels, where the GSU officers could be seen working with the traffic police to direct traffic on the roads to those hotels.

For instance, motorists and buses plying Waiyaki Way to Chiromo Road had to be diverted to other roads while others had to detour as traffic police cordoned off roads feeding into the Kempinsiki Hotel, believed to be accommodating delegates of the entrepreneurship summit.

Motorists used to accessing Kipande Road (which leads to Uhuru Highway) also had a rough time after the National Youth Service (NYS) blocked the road.

The only vehicles that were allowed to access these roads were those that were ferrying delegates to and from their destinations.

FULLY BOOKED

While motorists had to adjust to the inconveniences, those who wanted to book hotel rooms in some of the prestigious five-star hotels in Westlands were turned down as the hotels were said to be fully booked.

A spot check by the Nation at one of the five-star hotels revealed that if you were interested in booking a room, the only time you were likely to get one was after July 28.
Armed security personnel and police ambulances were also seen driving in and out of key five-star hotels in Nairobi’s Westlands.

Perhaps this was an indication that President Obama would spend his night in one of them.

“It is very difficult to find a room anywhere in Westlands at the moment. Each hotel room is booked by the visitors,” said a security guard.