OBAMA WIFE, DAUGHTERS NOT COMING TO KENYA

US president Barrack Obama with wife Michelle (L) and daughters Sasha (2nd L) and Malia. PHOTO BY courtesy 

By SAMWEL BORN MAINA (Monitor correspondent)

Nairobi.

US president Barack Obama’s family will not accompany him on his Kenya tour, which begins today.

According to a senior adviser Ruth Kagia in Kenya’s Office of the President, Michelle Obama and her daughters Malia and Sasha, will not be with Mr Obama during his first visit to Kenya as head of state.

The Kenya government did not give reasons for their absence. One reason could be that the tour coincides with the beginning of the school term in the US and the girls have to attend lessons.

The president will, instead, be joined by National Security adviser Susan Rice, Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and other senior US government officials. President Obama is expected to arrive in Nairobi today evening.

He will be accompanied by journalists, secretaries, advisers and secret service agents.

“This event will bring the best in the industry together. More than 3,000 very important people will be coming to Nairobi and this is something we will remember forever,” Ms Kagia told the Daily Monitor’s sister paper, The Daily Nation.

To address logistical nightmares at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the government has identified Kisumu, Eldoret and Mombasa airports as alternative parking areas for the many planes.

Special buses will ferry delegates from the airport to their hotels and the summit.

obama kenya visit tentative programme
President Uhuru Kenyatta will welcome the US leader before a reception ceremony is held at the airport. He will hold a meeting with President Uhuru Kenyatta on Saturday, then address the GES in Gigiri.

Mr Obama will talk to young leaders at Kenyatta University on Sunday before proceeding to Kasarani, where he will address a gathering of about 5,000 people, including MPs, civil society representatives, business people and top government officials.

After Kasarani, his schedule is still not known although he is expected to leave for Ethiopia on Sunday evening. It is not known if president Obama will meet Kenyan opposition leaders.

CREDIT: DAILY MONITOR