Former U.S. President Barack Obama is set to visit Kenya on 16 July, before heading to South Africa where he is expected to deliver a lecture in Johannesburg on 17 July to commemorate the centenary of the birth of the country’s founding father Nelson Mandela.
Local media report that Obama’s one-day stop in Kenya will see him hold talks with President Uhuru Kenyatta before travelling to his ancestral home located to the western part of the country.
This will be the former president’s first visit to Africa since he left office on 20 January 2017.
Obama has visited Kenya three other times before, but the most memorable one came in 2015 when he was serving his second term as president.
Upon the completion of his visit to Kenya, the former U.S. president will head on to Johannesburg where he will deliver a lecture in honor of Mandela.
After his death in December 2013, Obama eulogized Mandela by saying he “makes me want to be a better man.”
The theme of the lecture will be “Renewing the Mandela Legacy and Promoting Active Citizenship in a Changing World.”
It will focus on promoting equality and creating conditions for bridging divide.
The Obama Foundation’s Africa program is a yearlong initiative that aims to train people for roles in government, civil society and the private sector.
200 participants have been chosen to attend the lecture, from a pool of nearly 10,000 applicants.
Since leaving office in January 2017, Obama has made trips around the world, giving lectures on leadership and governance.
“When I was in my last year in office, part of what I asked myself is, ‘What would be the most important contribution I could make?’” Obama said during a recent round table with young people in Singapore.
“What I really felt most strongly about was, ‘How do we develop the next generation of leaders?’”
