ONUMBA.COM –President Obama’s only visit to Africa during his first term was his brief trip to Ghana shortly after he took office in January 2009.
Some folks are startled by the fact that it was his only visit to the ancestral homeland in his first term, to say the very least. When White House Director of African-American and Minority Business Outreach Michael Blake visited Columbus a couple of years ago, it was one of the questions posed to him by the Onumba.com during an interview at the State House, Downtown.
Blake, who was in Columbus to trumpet the president’s accomplishments for the African-American community, was asked if the president was planning a major trip to Africa.
“It is not finalized,” he replied, but quickly veered off matters of African visit, saying, “We have shown a very sincere and continued engagement with Africa,” particularly in the area of economic aid and support for elections to shore up Democratic governments there.
“Finalized,” or not, it never happened in the president’s first term.
It is often an issue of discussion among Africans, with opinions on the matter running the gamut, from outright brickbat of the president to a more lenient tone excusing him for being too busy with domestic matters, even though he somehow found time to visit other places.
But all of that is now water under the bridge. With his recent reelection to a second term, Africans everywhere are now hoping that the president, whose father hailed from the East African nation of Kenya, would now embark on a major visit to the continent. He has inspired and instilled pride in Africans and Black people all over the world.
In 2008, when Obama was elected the first Black President of the United States, the entire continent, from Cape to Cairo, erupted in jubilation and embraced him as a favorite son of Africa.
It’s no different with his recent reelection. However, many are encouraging the president to pay closer attention to Africa in his second term than he did during his first term.
From my conversations with folks on this matter, they feel a major visit is needed, not a pass-through, and definitely not a swing-by.
Meanwhile, news of Obama’s reelection was greeted with rabid joy and intense celebration throughout Africa, with the epicenter of the shindig understandably being Kenya where bands of agog folks danced, cheered and chanted his name, while banging on drums, woods and waving tree branches.
Obama, whose father Barack Obama, Sr., was a student in the United States, was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on August 4th 1961, to a White mother from Kansas, Ann Dunhan.
Mgbatogu is a freelance writer and editor of Onumba.com based in Columbus. He can be reached by email at: Onumbamedia@yahoo.com /
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