Barring any surprises or the intervention of a force majeure (or an act of God), Illinois Senator Barack Hussein Obama is likely to become the presidential candidate for the Democratic Party in the United States of America. Apart from escalating his chances of becoming the 44th president of the United States, Obama’s win is of great significance to the people of Kenya and Africa, if not the entire race of the people with relations to African ancestry.
His win will not just bolster the image of the Kenyans and Africans in the world but may also emancipate an entire race from the greatly hyped but seriously flawed myth of Africanity. The depiction of the African people has suffered greatly in the last two decades. Claims of endemic corruption, incompetence and outright intellectual incapacity have seen the African people discriminated against and treated as less human in many parts of the world. The rest of the world has perfected the art of associating Africa and its people with natural and human catastrophes such as war, drought, famine and disease. Just recently, James Watson, an eminent scientist and Nobel Laureate, made claims that the average African person has less intelligence than his contemporaries of other racial groups. This myth of Africanity is also perpetuated by the media, artists, filmmakers, historians, writers, scientists and foreign politicians through literary works and publications that paint Africans as inferior people who are inherently corrupt and inept. In the 1990s many African nations were forced to implement Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) to perk up up their economies which were reeling under massive foreign debt. The Structural adjustment policies and other conditionalities driven by two of the Bretton Woods institutions, the IMF and the World Bank, saw the replacement of many senior Africans in the civil service and state enterprises with foreign (expatriate) managers. These policies which were renamed the Poverty Reduction Strategies in 2002 hence also served to entrench the myth of Africanity. As a result, the African political and professional leadership suffered and continues to suffer from a crisis of confidence and credibility.
Senator Obama’s win will help to shatter this myth of Africanity. Obama's relationship with Africa is present and palpable. It has no connection with the nostalgic past history of slavery and forced migration. His African relatives are alive and well known in Kenya. His African ancestry is not doubtful and is not in issue.
It is therefore very important for Kenya, Africa and the entire world that Obama wins the Democratic Party presidential primaries. His win will be the clearest evidence that inter-racial relations in the world have gone the full cycle. It will be prove that any talented individual can achieve their highest aspirations in the world, racial background notwithstanding.
In the short term, an Obama win will turn the focus of attention to Kenya which might result in increased visits by foreigners and tourists. This may just be the anecdote for the faltering tourism sector which was almost ruined by the post-election violence which rocked the country early this year after the announcement of disputed presidential poll results in December 2007. Players in the Kenyan tourism sector should be watching Obama’s campaign with baited breath.
