This week, President Uhuru Kenyatta and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga complete a successful working tour of the United States of America. During the tour, the two Kenyan leaders met and held discussions with their American counterparts on varying topics of mutual benefit. Though it came at a rather sad point in the national timeline, the country has just lost one of her most foremost leaders who at the peak of his time defined our national trajectory, Raila and Uhuru’s tour of the US has and will have an equally lasting implication on the fortunes of Kenya, both in the present and in future.
Commonly known as the National Prayer Breakfast, the official reason that took the two Kenyan leaders to Washington was in itself a vote of confidence, an endorsement to join the world’s Club of Good statesmen and women. The “breakfast” is a very important event in the United States’ national calendar. The Americans take it very serious and not every Tom, Dick and Harry gets to be invited to the weeklong table. And given the place the USA holds in the global geopolitics, an important event to the US is an important thing to the world. The National Prayer Breakfast only accommodates important international guests. Uhuru and Raila are important to the world.
Kenya is important to the world.
But it is this year’s theme of the meeting and the subject the two Kenyan leaders were to speak about that makes the meeting more interesting. Reconciliation, Faith and Peace Building is what this year’s, the 68th, breakfast was all about. And the Uhuru-Raila duo addressed it on the ingredients of their Match 9 2018 handshake and the subsequent, and consequent, Building Bridges Initiative (BBI). The handshake was a peace offering between the two leaders. BBI is about reconciling the country so that it can move together as one going forward. The world wanted to learn more from this noble initiative and, hopefully, it learnt. Kenya, for once, is a teacher to the world in matters peace and reconciliation, a big contrast to the ethnicity and tribalism long associated with us. A feat no easy to achieve in such a short time!
On the sidelines of the prayer meeting, President Kenyatta and his US counterpart Donald Trump are reported to have furthered their discussions in pursuit of a trade deal that is touted to be a role model in the continent in Africa. Uhuru and Trump discussed how to wrap up a Free Trade Area pact between the two countries. This, if it is finalized, would be the first between the US and an African nation. Before the visit, the White House had promised that Trump would speak to Kenyatta about “new opportunities to advance cooperation and trade”. Among these opportunities are Kenya’s medical device industry, tech sector and textiles.
The United States has free-trade agreements with 20 countries but none are in Africa.
As early as 2018, the Trump administration had announced it would choose one African country for a “model” free-trade agreement. Driving the momentum for the trade deal is the fact that a US law that sets import preferences for African goods is set to expire in 2025. Passed by Congress in 2000, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) lets sub-Saharan nations export an array of products to the United States tariff-free, if they meet conditions such as maintaining a market-based economy, protecting labour rights and combating corruption.
It seems Kenya will land this singularly unique chance.
Coming at a time the Kenyatta administration has put in place mechanisms to revamp the country’s manufacturing sector, the Free Trade Area deal is godsend. The textile industry, for one, will benefit a lot considering that the Eldoret based Rift Valley Textile (Rivatex) is up and running after a decades-long lull. There are also the horticulture and livestock sectors that are sure to receive a much needed boost.
Our health industry is also in a needy position and this opportunity will also go a long way in alleviating suffering and unnecessary deaths. Overall, the deliberations during this Prayer function will have a serious impact on the President’s Big Four Agenda as well as boosting the country’s standing in the global diplomatic circle.
And we can always thank the handshake for it all.
