President Ruto announces Barack Obama will visit Kenya next year to launch UON school of leadership
Speaking during the launch of the Kenya Young Parliamentarians Association Strategic Plan in Nairobi, Ruto noted that he had requested an opportunity to engage Obama during his State visit to the US.
During the meeting, Ruto emphasised the importance of leadership and noted that the school would equip the youth with the requisite skills to be better leaders of tomorrow.
He referenced the Kennedy School of Leadership at Harvard University. Established in 1936, the Kennedy School of Leadership is recognised as among the best for equipping leaders and educating on public policies.
“When I was in America, I asked for an appointment with (former) president Barack Obama. I was asking him for one thing, I am an alumni of Nairobi University and I told him that his father was also an alumni of Nairobi University,” the president said.
“I requested him to assist us set up a school in the fashion of Kennedy School of Leadership in Harvard but this time to be a school of leadership in Nairobi University.”
According to Ruto, Obama assured that he would mobilise support for the school before his scheduled visit.
“I asked him let us call it ‘Barack Obama School of Leadership’ in Nairobi University. He agreed and will come here next year and he has undertaken that he will mobilise support for a sustainable school of leadership because leadership is serious and we want you guys to be better than us, go read, learn about leadership so that we can have better leaders tomorrow,” Ruto added.
Obama has made several trips to Kenya in the past, with the recent being in 2018 after leaving the White House.
In 2015, Obama toured Kenya as a serving US president where he held talks with former President Uhuru Kenyatta discussing issues primarily focusing on bilateral ties between the two nations.
