THE ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA’S INAUGURATION AS USA PRESIDENT WILL BE CELEBRATED AT HIS KOGELO NYANG’OMA HOME WITH CULTURAL AND SPORTS FESTIVITIES.
Writes Leo Odera Omolo In Kisumu City.
The first anniversary of the US President Barack Obama’s inauguration will be celebrated with cultural and sporting events and other activities in his ancestral Nyang’oma Kogelo backyard, in Siaya district, Western Kenya.
The activities lined up for the four day event, slated to start from January 16 to the 20th, include football tournaments involving local teams, athletic meetings, and tribal wrestling contest. Volunteer doctors will also perform male circumcisions and free HIV/AIDS test and counseling.
The swearing in and inauguration of President Barack Obama last year attracted thousands of people from all walks of life to his Kogelo home. It was then that the Kenya government declared it an annual event in honor of the US President, whose family root is in Alego Kogelo.
The declaration was made last year, following a visit by Kenya’s National Heritage Minister, William Ole Ntimama, in the company of his entire top Ministry officials, to the Obama’s rural home, which is located only a kilometer outside Nyang’oma market in Alego Kogelo.
Among the dignitaries invited to grace this year’s event is the Prime Minister Raila Odinga, National Heritage Minister William Ole Ntimama, cabinet ministers, and assistant ministers, MPs and the US Ambassador to Kenya, Mr Michael Reinebrger.
Briefing members of the press, the chairman of the preparation committee, which is organizing the event, Councilor Okeyo Omedo, said a major Harambee fund raising, to finance the event, will be held during the coming weekend. Councilor Omedo was accompanied by a senior cultural officer from the Ministry of National Heritage headquarters in Nairobi, Dorcas Ondiege.
The press briefing session was held at the Senator Obama Kogelo Primary School compound, which will host the events.
It was also evident that the entire Nyang’oma Kogelo village is in a festive mood. Kiosk owners, petty traders and shop keepers were seen stocking their stores to the capacity, anticipating a good turn out to the anniversary celebrations.
This year’s event is unlike last year, when the government of Kenya dished out the sums of Kshs 200,000 soon after president Obama won the US elections, in support of the inaugural festivities at Nyang’oma. So far, there has been no word from the Ministry as to whether the committee will be receiving any funding from the government for this year’s event, prompting the local committee to think otherwise. This has also prompted the local community to look for an alternative way of raising funds for the events.
The two commended the Nairobi based STANDARD group of newspapers for having provided last year’s ceremony with a big television screen, which thousands of people watched live as President Barack Obama was inaugurated and sworn in, in Washington DC, in the US.
The venue of celebrations is less than a kilometers to the Obama’s rural country home. It is also adjacent to Barack Obama Kogelo Secondary School, and not far from Nyang’oma Market.
In between the market and the Obama ‘s family home, a medium size hotel has sprung up, which would be offering accommodation to tourist from abroad and locals. The hotel investment is the brainchild of a Nairobi and Siaya businessman, Nicholas Otieno Rajula, who is a cousin to the Obamas.
And, as part of its envisaged plan to resuscitate the 40 year old sleeping Tourist Circuit in Western Kenya, the government, through the Tourist Board and other interested private sector, has plans to establish a full fledged hotel in the region. Its exact location is yet to be determined. This will be in addition to the earmarked Obama Community Centre, within the same vicinity.
A visit to Nyang’oma Market by this writer revealed remarkable improvement of facilities. The hitherto dusty market place, with small kiosks and shops built of temporary makeshift materials, is now the home of several ultra-modern business premises, and more are on the offing.
The market, which is situated on the hilltop, in an area overlooking River Yala, is promising to be one of the busiest trading centres in the region, with the fastest growth in the near future. It has attracted local investors, who are putting all kinds of commercial premises and eating houses.
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