Obama at Odds with Kenyan President over Issues Of Same-Sex marriage

    
President Obama’s visit  to Kenya is both of an Upbeat Tone and of Discord too. In his first visit as president to his father’s home country, he struck a relentlessly upbeat tone, declaring that “Africa is on the move,” praising progress toward democracy and economic growth and marveling over the changes he saw passing through the streets of this locked-down capital but he found himself at odds with his hosts over issues of democracy, human rights and same-sex marriage and gingerly tried to nudge them to change their ways. 

At a news conference, President Obama said the fight against terrorism in Kenya should not be used to justify a crackdown on dissent and he argued that no state should discriminate against gays and lesbians, comparing it to the era of segregation of African-Americans in the United States.

  President Uhuru Kenyatta accepted the advice on human rights without argument, saying Kenya was trying to improve its handling of the issue of security and liberty. “This issue of terrorism is new to us,” he said, “and as it is new, we learn with each and every step.”
But he flatly rejected Obama’sviews on gay rights. 

“There are some things we must admit we don’t share, our culture, our society don’t accept,” he said. “It’s very difficult for us to impose on people that which they themselves do not accept”.

“The fact of the matter is Kenya and US share so many values, democracy, entrepreneurship, family values. These are things we share but there are some things we do not share. Our culture our societies don’t accept.This is why I repeatedly say that for Kenyans today, the issue of gayrights is really a non issue. We want to focus on other areas that are day to day living for our people. Our health issues as we have discussed with president Obama. These are critical. Issues of inclusivity of women, a key section of society that is normally left out of the mainstream of economic development. What we can do in terms of infrastructure, Education, Roads, Power and Entrepreneurship. Maybe once like you have overcome some of these challenges we can begin to look at new once but the fact remains that this issue is not one that is in the foremost minds of Kenyans and that is the fact”

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