The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Winning hearts
Despite all this, the most important announcement for some quarters is not the highly lauded ‘power Africa’ but the ‘Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders.’ This feeling extends to Obama himself who said the initiative is “not the most expensive program that we have” but he believes it will “end up being one of the most important.”
The program announced in Soweto, South Africa, will see 500 young African leaders attend top American Universities and gain access to grants to start businesses in Africa and internships at international firms in Africa every year. With a focus on civic leadership, public administration, business and entrepreneurship, the initiative promises to cultivate young Africans that can build the continent.
As the trip came to an end in Tanzania, President Obama found himself in the company of former president George W. Bush where they attended a brief ceremony to remember the victims of the 1998 American Embassy bombing in the country.
While the meeting seemed pleasant, the presence of the former president highlighted what, some feel, has been Obama’s lackluster performance in Africa when compared to his predecessors
The activities of George Bush, Bill Clinton and even Jimmy Carter on the continent following their terms has gained these men high approval ratings that are a stark contrast to Obama’s performance as President.
The blog GlobalPost summed up Obama’s reengagement efforts by saying “former US President Bill Clinton was the leader that signed the bill to bring down trade barriers that stymie African economies. George W Bush established health programs to fight HIV/AIDS and malaria. Obama approved Africa’s first drone strikes.” This trip may have been an attempt to change this record on a continent that felt the hope Obama promised in 2008 most acutely due to his ties with Africa. Nowhere have these hopes been dashed more than in Kenya, the birth-place of Obama’s father. But the son has skirted his father’s homeland possibly because the president, Uhuru Kenyatta, has been indicted by the International Criminal Court. Changing Obama’s dismal record may be hard, however, as the president recently cut spending on PEPFAR, the program started by Bush to fight AIDS, and AGOA, which allowed a large number of African products to enter the US duty free, will soon expire although Obama said he hoped it may be extended to 2018.
The one area that Obama has beaten out these former presidents in relation to Africa is that his former secretary of state, Hilary Clinton, visited more African nations than any other secretary of state.
Perhaps the President is being cautious as he admitted “governments and businesses from around the world are sizing up the continent, and they’re making decisions themselves about where to invest their own time and their own energy.”
The U.S. Ambassador in Kampala, DeLisi, was possibly right when he said of Obama: “I know he delivered his messages and those are messages we’re proud of.”
Only time will tell whether the message of the greatest nation on the globe, America, engaging with the least technologically developed; Africa, will move beyond just another talking point on a whirlwind tour.
