Commentary (by Charles Onyango-Obbo) - WHAT OTHERS SAY: Looking at ‘our’ Senator Obama in an African way

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WHAT OTHERS SAY: Looking at ‘our’ Senator Obama in an African way

Story by CHARLES ONYANGO-OBBO
Publication Date: 2/21/2008

IN THE PART OF AFRICA WHERE I come from, the older relatives (particularly in the village) used to judge the failings of children in a manner that was very unfair to their mothers.

If a child failed her examinations in school, they would say she is “stupid like the mother”. If she topped the class, they would say she takes after her father — or one of her paternal relatives.

They will say this with a straight face, even if it’s common knowledge that the father dropped out of school to become a businessman, and it’s her bright mother who graduated from university with flying colours, therefore the child probably takes after her.

If, in her rebellious adolescent years, she jumped over the fence to go to a party against her parents’ wishes, they would claim that “she is badly behaved like the mother”, or an aunt on the mother’s side.

But if she were an “obedient” child who helps out in the local church, then she would have taken after her father. Never mind that he is a hard-drinking bloke who hasn’t attended prayers of any kind for years.

This approach towards assessing children’s character and abilities allowed generations of, sometimes largely incompetent, African men to maintain some dignity and respect despite their many failures.

It also reinforced the patriarchal architecture of society by enabling the husband’s side of the marriage to look always better than the wife’s.

We tell this story because we have to comment on the stunning success that Senator Barack Obama is enjoying in his quest to be the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate in the US elections in November.

If he keeps up his present winning streak, then he is going to whip Senator Hillary Clinton to take the prize. And, though at this point it sounds too good to be true, opinion polls say that if the election were held today, Obama would beat the man who will almost definitely be the Republic Party candidate, John McCain, to become America’s first black president.

Senator Obama was born to Barack Hussein Obama, a good Kenyan man from Kogelo, Alego, in Nyanza, and an American mother, Stanley Ann Dunham.

When he came to Kenya in 2006, and visited his ancestral home (there was that memorable hug with his 85-year-old grandmother Sarah), they were the headiest days in Alego.

According to The Times, there are prayers aplenty for Obama’s good fortunes in Kogelo.

THE PAPER QUOTED HIS UNCLE, Said Obama, apparently not a particularly cosmopolitan gentleman, saying in apparent reference to leader Raila Odinga’s claim that he was cheated out of the presidency by President Kibaki in the December polls, a claim which the president vigorously denies, that: “Now we are praying for Obama’s success... even if we never get a Luo in Kenya’s State House, we may have one soon in the White House”.

Nyanza is, of course, nowhere near Illinois that Obama represents in the Senate, and Kenya is a far cry from the US. Still, he must be the most famous person with Kenyan ancestry in the world today, and could soon be the most powerful “Kenyan” to walk the earth.

So one wonders how the elders in my village would call this one; does his father’s genes, or his mother’s account for Obama’s success?

There are no rewards for guessing what his grandmother and relatives think, but after the post-election genocidal, ethnic fury, it has become that much harder to argue that the Kenyan blood flowing in Obama’s veins is what accounts for his success.

To the Americans, Obama’s case is clearly one of those where the child is the product of a strong-willed mother, and not a deadbeat dad. But it’s not too late for Kenya to settle this matter.

Look at it this way. Barely two months ago, Kenya, as The Economist put it, was an admirable example for Africa. After the disputed polls, many have been quick to write it off as “another African basket case”.

But now there are the Kofi Annan-mediated talks between the Government (Party of National Unity) and the opposition ODM, to resolve the post-election impasse through a “power” or “responsibility” sharing deal.

A settlement that allows Kenya to get back to work and to exorcise the demons that plunged it into crisis might see the country being touted as the “comeback African nation” by the end of the year.

It might look unlikely today, but it’s not impossible. One would have said the same thing of Obama a year ago.

A first-time senator with no experience in government or foreign policy; a black man in a country with a history of racism that is still fresh in the memory of civil rights activists, running against a Clinton. It looked like his goose was cooked.

Methinks if the country bounces back and gets on a high roll, and Obama wins the American presidency, it will be hard to deny that the Illinois senator has a Kenyan streak in him.