More than 500 US residents with a blood connection to Kenya
gathered in Washington on Saturday in the first conference focused on
the diaspora's relationship with the homeland.
One particularly prominent figure was absent however: President Barack Obama.
Kenya's US ambassador Elkanah Odembo said organisers had invited President Obama, whose father was Kenyan, to attend the event.
The White House replied that the President's schedule did not allow for such an appearance.
Mr Odembo added that “there had been talk Mrs Obama might join us.” But the First Lady also did not attend.
Although President Obama has made scant mention of
Kenya since taking office, he does pay close attention to what is
happening in the country, Mr Odembo said.
“He gets updated on a regular basis,” the ambassador said, noting that aides brief President Obama on major stories in the Daily Nation and Standard.
“We have a very good relationship with people in the White House,” Kenya's envoy continued.
Pipeline explosion
The embassy gets calls from high-ranking officials at least once a week, Mr Odembo said.
Two recent contacts followed the pipeline
explosion in a Nairobi slum and the death of Wangari Maathai, the
ambassador recounted.
Assistant minister for Foreign Affairs Richard
Onyonka, who was substituting as conference keynote speaker for Chief
Justice Willy Mutunga, added at a press conference that he hoped
President Obama would visit Kenya during the remaining 15 months of his
first term.
Mr Onyonka added, however, that he knew of no plans for such a visit.
He had earlier told the gathering at a Washington
hotel that Mr Mutunga had been unable to make his scheduled appearance
due to “extremely unavoidable circumstances”.
Also taking part in the conference were Prof Ali
Mazrui, a world-renowned Kenya scholar who teaches in New York, and
Calestous Juma, a professor at Harvard University.
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