Thursday, June 27, 2013

What Kenyans will ‘miss’ as President Obama tours other nations in Africa

Updated Wednesday, June 26th 2013 at 22:33 GMT +3
By DANN OKOTH
KenyaIn September 2000, as then US President Bill Clinton visited Arusha, former Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa stared in disbelief as US Secret Service agents opened doors of his limousine to let in a sniffer dog hunting for “hidden bombs and grenades”.
Hours later, retired President Daniel Moi, who had flown to Arusha to meet Clinton, could not communicate with Moi International Airport Mombasa after the Secret Service agents jammed all local communications in the town. Moi was scheduled to be in Mombasa for a three-day visit. When US President Barack Obama arrives in Dakar, Senegal today, the country’s systems will be turned upside down. His visit will cost US taxpayers an estimated $100m, enough to build three Thika superhighways.
Despite goodies a US President brings — investors and announcing grants to local projects — his visit can be a nightmare. It can negatively affect local businesses.
Just ask the people of Dakar, Senegal. When President Bill Clinton visited the city in 1998, most small business in downtown Dakar were closed and residents were “bunkerised” — or forced to stay indoors.
With Obama’s impending visit, Dakar has already been turned into a slow city and beggars have been cleared from the streets.
Trapped in cars
If Obama had factored Kenya in his itinerary, it seems conceivable that all communication systems in the country would probably have been shut down as US intelligence apparatus take control of communications. Our airspace would possibly be shut or interrupted, and roads would be cordoned off.
Thousands of Nairobi residents would be trapped in their offices, cars and homes. If you think traffic jams are bad in Nairobi, think of what a visiting US President would do.
Dakar is still smarting from an embarrassing scenario in 1998 following Clinton’s visit.
Already residents in downtown Dakar are reporting lost business and economists are projecting losses to the country’s economy to the tune of millions of dollars yet Obama has not arrived.
This is what Kenyans will not be subjected to as Obama bypasses the country in his African trip that takes him to Senegal, South Africa and the neighbouring Tanzania.
Kenya got a taste of this disruption on a minor scale when President Clinton visited Arusha for the regional summit. Former President Moi was expected back in Mombasa the same evening at around 8pm.
But five hours later, the presidential jet had not touched down in Mombasa and the ensuing anxiety caused shivers among the country state security apparatus.
The problem was that they were unable to reach presidential security en tourage in Arusha because the US had jammed all communication.
A security officer, who was part of the security team waiting for retired President Moi in Mombasa, says they endured hours of anxiety as the whereabouts of the President remained unclear. He says: “We were in the dark because the President had delayed to arrive and nobody was telling us from the other side what was happening. We had no idea they were experiencing communication problems,” he says.
Instead of the scheduled 8pm arrival time, the president’s jet arrived in Mombasa some minutes past 1am. There has been hue and cry about what Obama’s snub on Kenya portends, but every US President’s visit comes with excess baggage, which include security nightmare — even though such visits are deemed to come with some goodies — and could include investment and trade opportunities and foreign policy influences. Quoting a US government internal planning document for the visit, The Washington Post reports that US Secret Service agents would be posted in secure facilities. An aircraft carrier with a fully equipped medical trauma centre will be part of the security arrangements. If Obama were visiting Kenya, this carrier would probably be stationed off Mombasa port. According to the newspaper, support vehicles, which include 14 limousines, will be airlifted in by US cargo planes.
US military helicopters were reportedly spotted on Tuesday flying over Pretoria and Johannesburg’s northern suburbs, with national police spokesman Sally de Beer confirming the fly over as an exercise in conjunction with the US government to ensure everything ran smoothly when Obama arrived. Three Sea Knight helicopters and two Black Hawks were also spotted flying over Illovo and Sandton. According to an impeccable Kenyan intelligence source, this might not account for all the security measures in President Obama’s African itinerary. “They only reveal what they want you to know,” says the source, who wishes not to be named.
“Otherwise the equipment and intelligence on the menu would be enough to shut down half of the continent,” adds the source, who has been at the helm of security during US officials’ visit to Kenya.
In Africa, however, such elaborate US security arrangements for the visit of their Heads of State have often dazzled — if not completely embarrassed the continent.
Back to Arusha summit, after the Secret Service cleared Clinton’s table of mineral water and soda, they quickly replaced them with a can of coca cola flown directly from America. President Clinton drank straight from the can — and it was the only drink he took inside the meeting hall.
He turned down local food. A visit by the US President to any African country is a tantalising experience because it could mean a better relationship with the most powerful nation on earth—and even more aid—but it comes with its own attendant costs.
US officials say Sub-Saharan Africa is a centre of global growth and a place where US business investment and trade could help boost Africa’s economic expansion.
President Obama arrives on the continent along with key economic officials and will meet American and African business executives. Economists say many of the world’s fastest-growing economies are in Africa, and the potential for future growth - particularly outside the resource sectors - is greater than it has been before.  

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