President Obama to visit Nairobi in July

President Uhuru Kenyatta and First Lady Margaret Kenyatta with US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama during a reception hosted in honour of heads of state and government attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 26, 2014. Mr Obama plans to visit Nairobi in July. PHOTO | PSCU 

In Summary

• President Obama announced on his Twitter account that he would attend the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Nairobi in July.
• This would be his first visit to the country since he was elected President in 2008.
• Obama visited Kenya as a senator and skipped it during his Africa tour in 2014.

By RAWLINGS OTINI
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US President Barack Obama, whose father is Kenyan, has announced that he will visit Nairobi in July.

President Obama announced on his Twitter account that he would attend the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Nairobi.

This would be his first visit to the country since he was elected president in 2008.

Obama visited Kenya as a senator in 2006 and skipped it during his Africa tour in 2014.

He stopped in neighbouring Tanzania and pledged to visit Kenya before he leaves the White House.

The president's father went to the United States to study and returned to Kenya after his son's birth.

The elder Obama died more than 30 years ago, but the president has other relatives in Kenya, including Sarah Obama, his step-grandmother.

KENYANS ON TWITTER

The news was largely received well, but some Kenyans were not impressed.

"We don't need Obama in Kenya. He is been refusing to come to Kenya all that time. Let him stay in America," said one Kenyan on Twitter, while another one said he hopes Obama wont bring his pro-gay lobbying to Nairobi.