Nairobi
04 June 2008
Kenyans, who have long followed the career of Barack Obama, welcomed the news of the senator clinching the Democratic nomination for president Tuesday night. Derek Kilner has more from Nairobi.
"We are very excited about it. He is a very intelligent person. He's been able to overcome a lot of difficulties. He's more of a unity factor," he explained. "He's not divisive. He's a nice guy. In fact, I like him so much I'm even selling his T-shirts."
Despite the excitement, ordinary Kenyans asked about the nomination said there are limited expectations about what Obama will be able to do for Kenya if he wins the presidency. One woman named Lynn recently returned from the United States where she is studying at the University of Texas.
"I don't think it's going to do much for Kenya but there's a lot of excitement about just our son is maybe going to be the president," she said.
"At the moment it is a big boost," added Martin Oweru, a recent university graduate in the capital. "But for Kenya, not exactly, because he has to concentrate on building the economy of U.S. first before coming back to Kenya."
"There's nothing unusual because it's not Barack Obama the individual who is going to rule the U.S. It's the Democratic Party and the policies and values of America which are going to prevail at the end of the day," said media consultant Charles Otieno.
Political scientist Peter Wanyande, says his colleagues at the University of Nairobi have also welcomed Obama's nomination, but are waiting to see how the general election turns out.
"The real test will be in the elections and they are hoping that the United States will be able to go beyond considerations of race, color things like those and actually demonstrate to the world that they are truly committed to issue-based politics," he said.
Wanyande says many Kenyans have been disappointed that presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton skipped the country on their visits to the continent. Many Kenyans are hoping that with Obama in the White House, Kenya would be on the president's itinerary.