Thursday, November 06, 2008

It's Obama Day in Kenya    [Travis Kavulla]

Nairobi, Kenya — It must be the first time one country has celebrated the election of another country's president with a day off. But that is just what has happened here in Kenya, where President Mwai Kibaki, with all the caprice of an African leader, has declared today a public holiday in honor of Barack Obama, whose father was Kenyan. Work is at a standstill, banks are closed, as are all government offices and most shops. (Ironically, Kibaki's 2007 campaign slogan was 'kazi iendelee' — let the work continue.) Bars, however, are open and people are still hawking Obama paraphernalia and stars-and-stripes apparel. And then there are the glue-sniffing street children, who continue to beg. Sad that the first concrete effect of an Obama presidency on Kenya would be to further depress the productivity of a country that could really use a booster shot in that department.

11/06 12:43 PMShare