Obama hails Africa’s potentials

The US president, Barack Obama who is presently in Kenya on a state visit has praised Africa’s economic and business potential, the BBC reports.

He told a business summit, that “Africa is on the move… People are being lifted out of poverty, incomes are up (and) the middle class is growing”.

He also visited a memorial for those killed in the 1998 US embassy bombing.

The trip, which began on Friday, is Mr Obama’s first visit as president to the country where his father was born.

At a meeting with Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta, the US leader urged Kenya to hold “visible” trials to tackle corruption, which he said could be the “biggest impediment” to further growth.

After talks in Nairobi, President Obama and Kenyatta said they were “united against terrorism” and efforts to deal with it.

But the two leaders differed sharply in their positions on gay rights.

While Mr Obama spoke strongly against discrimination, Mr Kenyatta said Kenya did not share the same values.

Read also: Obama meets Buhari, assures of US support

Barack Obama said he was encouraged by statements President Kenyatta had made about the need to root out corruption.

People were being “consistently sapped by corruption at a high level and at a low level, ” and there was a need for “visible prosecutions,” Mr Obama said, to show Kenyans that action was being taken.

“They don’t have to be a forensic accountant to know what is going on,”

President Obama had told the BBC he would deliver a blunt message on gay rights when he travelled to Africa – and defended his stand in response to a question at the joint news conference.

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