US President Barack Obama has made an outstanding address in which he praised the country but also highlighted challenges that the country should purpose to tackle.
In his address at the Kasarani indoor arena, the US President said corruption, terrorism and ethnic division are threats to Kenya’s future.
"Kenya is at a crossroads, a moment filled with peril but enormous promise," he said.
Obama warned the country against politics based on ethnicity and tribalism.
"A politics that's based on only tribe and ethnicity is doomed to tear a country apart. It is a failure - a failure of imagination," he said.
He has further touched on one of Kenya's biggest challenge- corruption, noting that it was costing Kenya 250,000 jobs annually.
Obama said, “Every shilling that is paid as a bribe could be put in the pocket of someone doing a good day's work". He further noted, “Making strong laws which are not enforced is not the way to fight corruption.”
Obama condemned female genital mutilation and forced marriage, which he said did not belong in the 21st Century.
He said, "the most successful strategy you can have, is to educate girls who grow to be women who will educate their children ...treating women as second class citizens is a bad thing.....it holds you back."
Obama advocated for the importance of democracy, noting that "democracy does not stop on election day. Citizens must actively participate."
The US president urged Kenya to arrest corruption, negative ethnicity, bad politics and empower women and youth to develop.
Today marks the end of Obama's trip to Kenya, which is his first trip as US President to his father's ancestral land.
He will be leaving for Ethiopia later today.
See also: Here is the breakdown of Key Issues Discussed in Bilateral Talks between Uhuru and Obama
Here is the full video of the speech
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