Obama in Kenya: Once more, reality gets in the way of expectations

For all the excitement about Barack Obama’s visit to Kenya, the home of his father, many on the African continent are asking the same question we hear from black America too: has he delivered on all the hopes we had for him when he first won the White House?

The answer is no. Just as African-Americans have discovered that having a black President hasn’t magically ended racial inequality in the US, so the African leaders now well understand that having a son of their continent in the Oval Office hasn’t given them a privileged place in America’s affections.

Gestures and symbolism matter, of course, and the exultant scenes in the Nairobi arena and Mr Obama’s warm, yet also scolding, message to Kenya to modernise its society and combat corruption, may have a lasting impact on its psyche. This visit, which now takes him onward to Ethiopia, may also help to end criticism that as President he has been nearly neglectful of Africa.

That used to seem the case. In all of his first four-year term, he visited it only once, with the briefest of stopovers in Ghana. This is his third time on the continent in his second term. (Recall his eulogy at Nelson Mandela’s funeral.) Yet his record of action in Africa still trails that of his predecessor, George W Bush, who surprised many with his commitment to fighting Aids and malaria on the continent. If Mr Bush is remembered for efforts on health in Africa, Mr Obama’s main legacy was meant to be Power Africa, an ambitious programme to bring electricity to millions still without it, using renewable sources where possible.

But once more, reality got in the way of expectations. Vital to Power Africa is America’s Export-Import Bank that guarantees loans to foreign companies buying US-made products. Of the $7bn set aside for the scheme, $5bn will be channelled through the bank. But the Republican-controlled US Congress has just let the bank’s charter expire. Shutting it down has long been a Republican priority. So, not for the first time, Mr Obama is relying on the power of his words and the symbolism of his own racial heritage to strengthen US-Africa ties. He did a fine job of that in Nairobi and younger Kenyans seemed to embrace him.

But if Power Africa is allowed to wither, the sad fact will remain that for Africa, the Obama presidency may end up looking more paltry than transformative.