By Richard Bosire via Facebook
[wpsocialite]
White House has now explained that the ICC cases facing Kenya’s leaders are the reason why US President Barrack Obama is skipping the homeland of his late father.
White House officials said the fact that Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto are facing trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague had jinxed a possible visit.
Ben Rhodes, a deputy US national security advisor last night said that “It just wasn’t the best time for the president to travel to Kenya at this point”.
Speaking during a teleconference mainly centered on the Africa visit starting Wednesday next week, Rodes however, insisted that Kenya retains a “special place” in the president’s heart.
Obama leaves Washington on Wednesday on the first leg of a three nation tour meant to emphasize economic potential and democratic development, in east, south and western sub Saharan Africa.
He will stop first in Senegal, where he will meet President Macky Sall and pay an emotive visit to Goree Island and a museum and memorial to Africans caught up in the slave trade.
Then he will move onto Johannesburg, South Africa on Sunday and the next day in Pretoria to hold talks and a press conference with President Jacob Zuma.
Obama will stay overnight in Johannesburg and Cape Town during his trip, and plans to visit Robben Island, where Mandela was once imprisoned.
The final leg of Obama’s journey will take him to Tanzania, where his program includes talks and a press conference with President Jakaya Kikwete and a visit to the Ubungo power plant.