The Other Barack (37 page)

With Odinga now effectively marginalized, Kenyatta's Kikuyu coterie began to look increasingly askance at Tom Mboya, who now stood as the likely heir apparent. Mboya was not only immensely popular among a broad swath of trade union members and members of parliament but was also believed to have the critical support of the Western countries, particularly the United States. As the aging Kenyatta's health began to deteriorate, many Kikuyus were increasingly alarmed at the possibility of the presidency falling to a non-Kikuyu. Rumors about Mboya's political intentions were rampant. That he was interested in the presidency was no secret. Some whispered that he was forging a secret alliance with Odinga to assume a spot within the KPU.
¹⁴
Others suspected a more devious agenda. Either way, the hostility of Kenyatta's inner circle toward Mboya escalated rapidly. As Mboya's biographer David Goldsworthy wrote, “Far from secure incumbency, his position was one of exposure, of vulnerability to the plottings of those who
were
securely incumbent.... By the later 1960s, [Mboya] was having to count his friends perhaps more intently than ever before.”
¹⁵

Of his enemies, there seemed to be no end. In December 1967 a sentry keeping guard at his home on Convent Drive fired a series of shots at Mboya's empty white Mercedes. The man, who was apprehended and jailed, was said to be mentally ill. Nevertheless, according to Goldsworthy, Mboya was increasingly fearful for his safety. After Robert Kennedy was assassinated in June of 1968, Mboya finally agreed to allow his American friends, William Scheinman and Frank Montero, both with the African American Students Foundation, and Robert Gabor, an official with the New York–based cultural funding organization, Peace with Freedom, to hire him a personal bodyguard.
¹⁶

Unlike many who threw their lot with either one of the two Luo giants, Odinga or Mboya, Obama retained ties with both political camps, as he was drawn to aspects of each of their platforms. As he had expressed so forcefully in his critique of Sessional Paper No. 10, Obama believed that certain socialist principles that Odinga articulated should be a feature of the country's economic underpinnings. But he also saw a place for the capitalist principles that the West-leaning Mboya espoused. He was particularly incensed at the factions within KANU that were seeking to
undermine Mboya, their own party's secretary-general. Although removed from Mboya's exalted circle, Obama continued to look to Mboya for guidance. Their relationship had grown more distant over the years as Mboya's star rose ever higher, but they nonetheless maintained a friendship throughout. Mboya's increasing political isolation gave Obama one more reason for dismay.

Like others disillusioned with the government's performance, Obama regarded Kenyatta as a bitter disappointment. In the months after he returned with Ruth, it seemed that much of what he had long dreamed for his country had failed to materialize. Far from standing as a boldly independent African nation, dependence on foreign capital still hobbled Kenya. At the same time, its domestic assets were being amassed in the hands of a privileged few. Obama was an economist who believed that free enterprise played a critical role in a democracy, but he also had a deep respect for African communalism. He felt strongly that the majority should share in the country's bounty. Instead, he saw unfettered capitalism and, increasingly, a rampant tribalism eroding the promises of
uhuru
.

Although Obama clearly had difficulty with authority of any kind, he was hardly alone in believing that his own Luo roots were coming to be a distinct liability. As he grew increasingly frustrated with the Kikuyus' tight grip on the country's politics, he began to drink ever more heavily. His frustration with the country's course coupled with his own personal failure to attain the heights that he believed should have been within easy reach were fast congealing into an acid stew of resentment. As was his habit, he did not hesitate to speak out. “He did not like the aggressive capitalism that Kenyatta was putting into place, the acquisition without taking into account all the poverty that there was,” said Peter Aringo, Obama's longtime friend and an MP from Alego. “This sharing the crumbs from the table did not impress him and he said so. I pleaded with him to be moderate in what he said, but he would not. He took it very personally. He felt Africa needed someone who was courageous and he needed to speak out.”

 

AS KENYA EMERGED FROM THE TURBULENT drive for independence, its new leaders turned to an unlikely group of people for an economic boost. They were
wazungu—
the plural form of
mzungu
—for the
most part. They carried cameras. They knew little about Kenya and less about the African continent. But they generally had a generous amount of money in their pockets. In Swahili they were called
watalii
. Elsewhere they were known as tourists.

Tourism was hardly new in Kenya. Even before independence was declared in 1963, visitors predominantly from the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United States had journeyed to Kenya's interior on safari to photograph or bag the legendary game there. Others came to sample the undulating beaches of Mombasa and Malindi. In the two years after Kenya's rippling black, green, and red flag went up, the number of visitors coming on holiday leapt by 45 percent from 22,363 to 32,351. The number of visitors from the United Kingdom alone more than doubled from 1964 to 1965, whereas the total number of all visitors, including those doing business or in the military, peaked at 81,448.
¹⁷
Calculating that tourism would not only create employment more rapidly than any other sector of the economy but also generate substantial foreign exchange earnings, government leaders embarked on a major expansion of the accommodations and infrastructure that would stimulate the industry.
¹⁸
Their expectations were not modest. In the Kenya Tourist Development Corporation's five-year plan written in 1968, they projected that by 1973 the number of tourists coming to Kenya would reach 385,000 a year and would generate a net contribution to the economy of £16.2 million.
¹⁹

To achieve that goal, the fledgling KTDC needed a highly skilled economist, someone who could attract foreign investors as well as parse the African tourist's appetite. Obama's name, invariably, arose from the small circle of Nairobi economists. But he was not the only one considered for the post of KTDC's senior development officer. Another candidate was Washington Jalang'o Okumu, a bright young economist who also happened to have a Harvard degree, a BA he received in 1962. Both men were unabashedly self-confident and impressed the KTDC board with their poise and performance. Both men were also impeccably turned out in the latest European attire. But in the end the board offered the post to Obama. Okumu went on to become a personal assistant to Kenyatta and an internationally acclaimed negotiator credited with mediating a critical 1994 compromise between South African presidents Nelson Mandela, F. W. de Klerk, and the Inkatha Freedom Party's Mangosuthu Buthelezi that paved
the way for multiracial elections. “Obama was a very impressive man, very smooth and articulate,” said Jeremiah Owuor, the general manager of the KTDC and Obama's immediate superior. “You could see immediately that he could deliver. The board was quite taken with him.”

Indeed, Obama's economic skills must have dazzled the board, for they hired him despite the substantial liability of his spotty employment record. Although he beat out Okumu, Obama was assigned to a trial period of six months and placed on a full year's probation. The board instructed Owuor to “have a word with Mr. Obama” and to explain that the trial period was necessary due to some “adverse reports received from his former employers,” according to the minutes of the KTDC's September 8, 1967, meeting. What's more, Owuor was advised to “keep a very tight control over [Obama] during this trial period. While problems such as over-drinking outside office hours may be considered personal they can no longer be considered personal if they affect and impair the performance of a member of the Corporation.”
²⁰
Less than two months later Obama was the subject of just the kind of headlines that KTDC board members had most feared.

“TOURISM OFFICER ON DRINKS CHARGE,” the
Daily Nation
declared on November 4, 1967. Obama had been at a cocktail party before he collided with a milk handcart as he sped along the Ngong Road at 4 a.m. He had then pulled to the side of the road and telephoned police to report the accident. A medical report presented at his court hearing indicated that he had consumed “the equivalent of six beers or twelve whiskies,” according to the news story. Pointing out that Obama had pleaded guilty to the charge and had a Harvard University degree, Obama's defense attorney asked for leniency. F. E. Abdullah, the magistrate hearing the case, was moved by what he called the “mitigating circumstances” in the case and fined Obama £50 and prohibited him from driving for one year. Adding that he could have decided to have him put in prison, Abdullah concluded, “The services of the accused to the nation will be more valuable outside prison.”
²¹

The KTDC board might have argued otherwise. Obama made good use of his formidable economic skills as an economist and forecaster during his three years at the KTDC, but his tenure there was a rocky one that culminated in disaster. He often showed up late for work smelling of alcohol
and was chastised on a host of occasions for usurping his superiors. But his more egregious offense was his perennial impersonation of general manager Owuor while engaged in business in order to gain the perks of the other man's rank. Offended at having to work beneath a man he considered less educated than himself, Obama corrected the situation by simply giving himself a promotion. At the same time, his personal charm won him accolades from both tourists and investors alike, whom he regaled with dramatic stories of his childhood in the bush. Never mind that apparently few of them were true.

At the core of Obama's difficulties at the KTDC was his disdain for Owuor. Another Maseno graduate, Owuor was raised in a staunchly Christian family and was a keen believer in both his faith and personal discipline. Every Monday he called a meeting to review the week's work ahead, dubbing the meeting the “Monday morning prayer meeting,” to Obama's great annoyance. Owuor had earned his BA and a MA in social sciences from universities in India, as had a number of other Kenyans of the period. But Obama, the Harvard man, was openly disdainful of his boss's education. And Owuor knew it. “You see, people who came back from getting an education in the United States, they had high expectations for themselves. They were going to rise very high,” said Owuor. “And if you find yourself like Obama being under somebody trained in India, well, what is India? What is an education in India? Nothing. You're either from the UK, or America.”

Compelled to work cheek by jowl, the two men chaffed from the start. “Jerry Owuor was a clean Christian, very strict. But Barack was a free man, so how were those two to get along?” asked Arthur Reuben Owino, Obama's old friend. “One was rather talkative and boastful, the other was a quiet and godly man. What would you expect to happen between them?”

One of a relatively small staff, Obama's responsibilities were multiple. His primary task was to assess the tourism industry's potential in Kenya, make projections of the number of tourists who could be expected to come to the country, and perform feasibility studies of hotel and park projects in which the KTDC had a financial interest. In order to evaluate the market, Obama was also required to interview tourists as they disembarked at the Nairobi airport and visit with them at their hotels. With the assistance of KTDC's other development officer, Nyaringo Obure, Obama
periodically spent an evening with a group of tourists in order to develop profiles of their itinerary and their expectations. Piqued by their enthusiasm, Obama would often delight the visitors with yarns about his childhood experiences. Sometimes the stories involved savage, man-eating beasts; other times they revolved around inexplicable mystical spirits.

“We would all be sitting around the fire at night at the lodge and he would be doing most of the talking,” recalled Obure. “He would make wild exaggerations. One story he told over and over was about how when he was a boy he was looking after the family cattle. Suddenly, a group of lions appeared and started to attack the cows. Barack pulls out his spear and kills the first lion by stabbing him in the chest. Then he goes for the rest, stab, stab, stab. Of course, I knew it was a lie. I don't think there were even lions in the area where he lived. But the tourists just loved it. Another time he said a buffalo attacked one of his relatives. Barack happened to be in a tree overhead and he dropped down on the buffalo's back and wrestled it to the ground. And so his stories went on and on.”

To the managers of the hotels in which they stayed, Obama told a slightly different kind of story, but one just as untrue. During one of many tours of the Aberdare mountain region north of Nairobi while scouting possible hotel sites, Obama and Obure happened to get a flat tire on their car. At the time they were staying at the luxurious Outspan Hotel, a legendary country retreat in the heart of the coffee highlands. As neither of them could afford a new tire, Obama approached the general manager of the hotel. “He introduced himself as Dr. Obama, and explained that he was the general manager of the KTDC and could the man possibly give him a hand. I told him later it wasn't right to give himself such a title, but he just waved me away. And their manager couldn't have been more helpful. He gave us eight hundred shillings to buy the new tire and off we went.”

During one of their long drives together, Obama happened to tell Obure a story so incredible that Obure just laughed in outright disbelief. Never one prone to talk much about his personal life, Obama spontaneously announced that he had a young son in America. In fact, the boy lived in Hawaii and had the same name as his own. “Well, of course I didn't believe a word of it,” exclaimed Obure. “It was just Barack talking.”