Former US President Barack Obama is set to resettle in Kenya for at least a year as Special Envoy for US Diplomacy (SED), a deployment which he said “makes me truly grateful as I pay tribute to the land of my father- and forefathers”.
Nominated by President Joe Biden, who was Obama’s Vice President
between 2009 and 2016, the former president, codenamed “Renegade”, was
confirmed by The US Senate, which is increasingly exploring the possibility of
sending retired Presidents to countries of their ancestry.
According to The Standard, Obama is expected to arrive in Kenya
on June 13 for what his team calls “a reconnaissance trip”, has indicated
his desire to set up an office outside the capital Nairobi when he finally
lands.
This, he says, will help him better understand devolution and
promote coordination among counties before he can seek an enhanced diplomatic
partnership between Kenya and the US.
With speculators saying property prices could triple within no
time, mooted counties of his stay initially included Siaya, which is the home
to Alego, in which sits Kogelo village, where his grandmother (and extended
family) have lived for years.
Others were Kajiado, due to its proximity to Nairobi, Lamu and
Mandera, where he was expected to see firsthand the intermittent threat of The
Al Shabaab, thus better advising the US on best, and prompt, actions to take.
But it is increasingly appearing that Obama could settle in Nyeri
with locals noticing a grand, highly secured, ultramodern block, cryptically
labelled "Yad Sloof Lirpa" whose use the county government could not
disclose, coming up behind Governor Mutahi Kahiga’s official residence. The term
is an old time slogan associated with alma mater, Occidental College, Columbia
University.
Obama will, however, spend much of his time in Nairobi, where he
is expected to shoot his much anticipated documentary “In The Land of My
Father”, enlisting, in part, Morgan Freeman and Sir David Attenborough for the
narration.
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