Obama’s trip to Kenya: A Cost Benefit Analysis

When news flooded local media stations a couple of months ago that president Obama would be coming to Kenya to open the 6^th Global Entrepreneurship Summit, there was so much excitement all across the nation. Obama’s trip would mean more than the reception of the most powerful president in the world. It was going to be a reception of Kenya’s son, one who was coming back home. And this was clearly seen by the use of the social media tag #Obamahomecoming prior his visit week and throughout the 3 day period he spent on Kenyan soil. 

source: The guardian.com

Despite international cable news channel CNN trying to dampen our moods of warmly welcoming Obama through its fallacious and maladroit reporting on Kenya as a ‘hot bed of terror’, our spirit was not shattered. In fact our president Kenyatta would later make us feel so proud to be Kenyans when two days later, he used their very phrase “hot bed” in a disguise response during his opening remarks at the global entrepreneurship summit. He branded Kenya as a hot bed of vibrant culture and wonderful people.

The Audacity of hope for Kenya

I was privileged to be among 5,000 Kenyan citizens who attended President Obama’s public address to the Kenyan people on the 26^th of July 2015.  Ignoring all the hassle and bustle of getting to the Safaricom Stadium in Kasarani on the Sunday morning, it felt transcendental to be a part of the historical moment. Obama gave a passionate speech that would set a tone for action across all sectors. His message to was one filled with hope to the young people for building a future right here right now, it was indeed the audacity of hope in Kenya. Focus on the youth is an area that President Obama has been undoubtedly most passionate about in his agenda for Africa. Even president Uhuru Kenyatta, during a joint press conference with Obama from the State house in Nairobi a day before this public speech, recognized the enthusiasm that Obama has had for the Youth in Africa. Obama also sees an investment and opportunities for women as a key way to transforming the continent. He castigated a tradition that treats women as second class citizens terming it as a bad one. Women are part of the development agenda, they are team players. He termed it stupid to have a team where half of the team players do not play. 

source: Chicagotribune.com

 Did the costs match the Benefits? 

 

Well, now that Obama is gone, how about a quick and simple cost benefit analysis of his trip to Kenya. Was it really worth all the planning, attention and the “Obamafever”? It is expensive to host a sitting US president; both to the US government and the host nation. That said, it was expensive for us as a nation to host Obama. A lot of money went into the logistical planning and detailing of his trip. The national government had to deploy 10,000 security forces into the capital city Nairobi where Obama would be hosted. His main travel agenda (which to an extent may have been overshadowed) the global Entrepreneurship summit (GES) was a hefty program to plan. 

President Obama and President Uhuru open the GES 2015

Ahead of Obama’s arrival, Kenya hosted a weeklong pre-GES expo to showcase some of the thriving to successful entrepreneurial ideas and businesses within and beyond. The county government of Nairobi had to play the good host and spend a fortune to beautify the city (including planting of grass that was under pressure to go before the D-day), cleaning of the streets and repainting some of the city’s buildings. Some businesses had to part way with millions in a 3-day minimal disruption in the transport sector which would affect the human resource. In a nut shell, the cost of hosting President Obama was real, and we had to bear it as tax payers.

We cannot avoid to ask ourselves the question as to whether Obama’s visit was worth the effort. This is a question that may be answered with a look at the benefits of his trip. I will look at the benefits in an immediate, mid-term and long term scenarios. 

i) Immediate Benefits

Sharktank's Daymond (right) addresses the GES. source: US Embassy Kenya

We must know that by Obama coming to Kenya to officially open the GES 2015, his physical presence in the nation alone was a huge benefit. His tour attracted over 100 media houses nationally and internationally and this provided Kenya with an invaluable marketing platform. Obama’s visit has covered an international marketing strategy that would have incurred our nation huge sums of money and significant time to achieve. I choose Kenya (official government brand Kenya marketer ahead of the summit) may agree with me that it would probably have taken us years to earn the spotlight that Obama brought us in just 3 days.  So yes, we may have spent large to prepare for him, but he too has returned us a favour of attracting the likes of American Shark tank’s Daymond John right into our doorstep. A delegation of International prestigious investors were in Kenya last week. Some of them are still here, sealing deals before they depart and of course enjoying the spectacular view of magical Kenya. Kenya’s tourism industry may have recorded a record influx over the GES period. 

ii) Mid-term benefit

I consider mid-term as the period that will span over the next one to six months. What benefits are we likely looking at over this period? One obvious indicator that will show us just how bad or good President Obama’s visit and the GES faired for our economy will be the value of the Kenyan shilling. At the time of visit, the shilling value has been drastically weakening. Its exchange value to the dollar is at an all alarming low hitting over ksh 100 plus mark. The Central Bank of Kenya must be having gruesome moments trying to figure out a plausible strategy to strengthen our currency.  Analysts say that the weakening of the Kenyan shilling may have been largely contributed by a drop in Kenya’s tourism sector which has been the 2^nd foreign income earner to the economy. The tourism industry decries its losses to the effect of terrorism attacks on Kenya by the Somali based Al Shabaab militia group. The West, most noticeably the UK (until recently) had been swift to give travel advisories to its citizens warning them against visiting Kenya was a measure that weighed down the economy. But with the GES summit successfully held in Kenya, and Obama’s trip in the country a massive success, we are now looking to see the value of the Kenyan shilling strengthen. Hopefully, it can stabilize at a value way below the 100 plus cap. Six months may be a period long enough to assess the impact.  

Long term benefit

The thing about mid and long term benefits is that they are speculations. Unlike the immediate benefits, we cannot accurately gauge such benefits. One of the long term benefits that we should look forward is the US government’s commitment to boost entrepreneurship in Africa. In his opening remarks at the GES, President Obama unveiled a plan by the US to spend 100 million dollars towards entrepreneurship in Africa. These projects will largely target women and the youth. And Kenya is likely to reap big from this announcement as Obama also unveiled the plan to open a global entrepreneurship centre in Nairobi. It is estimated that over 5,000 jobs will be created with the opening of this centre. Kenya is amongst 3 nations chosen to host such centres in Africa. For nature lovers like me, the Obama administration is working on a law that will prohibit the sale of any ivory products in the US. If market to the game product is killed, then we may be rest assured that our big five will long live to see the future.  Kenya was also recognized as the economic power house of East Africa. Kenya’s effort to power the economy with clean energy also received recognition. On clean energy, Kenya stands to gain in the long run through Obama’s government Power Africa initiative that strives at partnering with governments to light Africa using clean energy resources.

The long term benefits of Obama’s trip will have to take into account the Kenyan delegation that represented us at the just concluded GES. If we made the right connections, and initiated the right conversations, then we can be optimistic that the long term benefits of Obama’s trip will sure pay. It may take a year, or 2 or 5 years to see the results. But as individuals and a nation, we’ve got to do the necessary post-GES 2015 implementation and see how much we can reap from it. 

Ultimately,

Having hosted a super power president, we can now tell just how it feels like to be a super power. Who knows, we may grow to become the super power nation in Sub Saharan Africa and Africa. After all, Kenya’s daughter, the 2014 Oscar award winner Lupita Nyongo taught us that our dreams are valid. And our son Obama making it to the top most office in the world as the first African American president is a continuous reminder that we can be anywhere we want to be as a nation. We are the nation famous for mobile platform money transfer MPESA. And we are the nation that prides in the mobile app Ushahidi milestone at a global level.  Even when we do not have resources, we still manage to produce record setting athletes such as Julius Yego. The Kenyan mobile technology hub is big and can only get better. On clean energy, Kenya is a trend setter. We come 8^th in global rankings of geothermal power generation, and the first country in Africa at it. Our wind energy projects are gradually picking up, and we have space for solar energy. We are a nation that recognizes that we must operate in a clean energy environment to contribute significantly against climate change. We must now invest more in our women and the youth to realize our dreams.