USA

Americans and a certain Kenyan journalist wait to catch a glimpse of Obama in Chicago

On The Trail of Obama Following his trip across the United States covering the presidential election, Joseph Warungu speculates on whether Africa can claim Barack Obama as its own

LEE SPArEY

It is human nature to gravitate towards power. But Africans can take this to extremes. They throw genes into the equation and suddenly we are all related to the newly appointed minister, chief or permanent secretary. So now “Obama is my cousin” and “I went to college with Obama’s uncle’s classmate,” are claims being bandied about freely, following the election of the first black president of America.

Having spent three weeks travelling across the United States covering the historic elections for the BBC, I too caught the bug. On election day, I came within 15 metres of the man who would be president. Basking in the bright November sunshine I stood outside the polling centre in Chicago, near Obama’s home, waiting patiently for him to cast his ballot. As he got out and walked to his car, suddenly two very different Kenyans

were within spitting distance of each other – one awesome, as the Americans would say, the other awestruck – separated only by the eagle-eyed Secret Service and Chicago Police Department officers. Now that the euphoria following his election is settling down, to what extent can Africa claim Obama as its own, and does Obama claim Africa back? How would this relationship influence America’s

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policy towards Africa? These are questions I explored with the many experts and ordinary Africans and Americans I spoke to. I learnt a few lessons. Barely a week after he was elected, one of the first foreign leaders Obama called up was President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya. Kibaki, whose government declared a public holiday to celebrate Obama’s victory, said, “The Kenyan people fully understood that the new American president owed his allegiance to the American people but were confident that Kenya would always have a special place in the president-elect’s heart.” Lesson one: Africa acknowledges that Obama is an American but his roots

are in the fatherland. Lesson two: Obama would be prepared to speak directly to the African leadership. It is not just Africans who were dusting up Obama’s lineage and wiring it up directly back to themselves. In the final days of the election campaign, many Americans had come to accept that the aroma of African staples like ugali, fufu and goat stew, might soon waft through the windows of the White House kitchen. When asked during a US television appearance who he thought would win the election, the famous American comedian Chris Rock declared “Obama”. And his reasons? “He’s got a good chance because he’s Kenyan,” joked Rock. “And you can’t beat a Kenyan at a race. Nothing like a Kenyan, boy. You got on a plane right ➤

Dear Pres ident Obama i offer my warmest congratulations on your election, and assure you of the prayers of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa as you take up office. As South, and southern, Africans we are more than conscious of what it means to overcome historic divisions based on no more than the colour of one’s skin. our contemporary world remains plagued by too many unjust divisions, not least poverty, that arise as accidents of birth. Yet these divisions are still perpetrated by the continuing choices of those with power and influence. Therefore as Africans we hope to see in your election a new dawn for us all – a life beyond the shadows of racism, colonialism and imperialism. These continued to live on in the strong’s economic exploitation of the weak, in the dominance of military might and in paternalistic development policies where recipient governments’ accountability to donors undermines their answerability to their own electorates. So, as we rejoice with you, we also challenge you to build “bonds of affection” across division, to which you referred in your acceptance speech, not only within the United States but across the world. The Bible has a word for such relationships: ‘covenant’. While contracts too often reduce human interaction to money and litigation, covenants bind people together in trust, honesty and faithfulness to promote mutual well-being as they take responsibility for their own problems and for their own progress – as Africa certainly must. in Africa we also have a word for this: ubuntu, a philosophy which says, “i am because we are – my full humanity is dependent on your full humanity.” Ubuntu is about reciprocal loving and caring, respect and compassion, helping the needy and upholding ethical standards. Ubuntu declares that if any other person is diminished, then i too am diminished. God has given you gifts of inspirational leadership. We ask you to dare to use them to lead the world into a new era of covenant and ubuntu, an era of justice for all – especially the weak and powerless. Africa needs a global community of economic fairness that urgently tackles unsustainable growth in demand for oil, energy and other resources. it needs conditions in which natural riches do not merely resource conflict, death and destruction. it needs to hear the words of God, saying, “Peace be with you.” We ask you to be such a peacemaker. God bless. Yours in the service of Christ, The Most reverend Thabo Cecil Makgoba Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa

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