Nairobi News

Former US President Bill Clinton arrived in Kenya on Friday morning for a three-day visit accompanied by his daughter Chelsea.

The two will tour projects funded by the Clinton Foundation. Chelsea started her maiden Kenyan visit by touring Nairobi’s Mbagathi District Hospital outpatient clinic on Friday.

She inspected the work of the Clinton Health Access Initiative which educates families on the use of Zinc and Oral Rehydration Salts in treating diarrhoea.

“Children are being welcomed here, are getting vaccines and being treated for severe dehydration due to diarrhoea.

“We are proud of what the Kenyan government is doing and certainly all of us at the Clinton Health Access Initiative are grateful to be supporting the government and ensuring that every child is healthy,” said Ms Clinton, mother of seven-months-old Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky.

Mr Clinton and his daughter on Friday afternoon convened a discussion about women and girls globally known as ‘No Ceilings: The Full Participation Project’.

The visitors arrived early on Friday morning and were received at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi by Deputy President William Ruto, Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed and Senator Kipchumba Murkomen (Elgeyo/Marakwet).

Mr Clinton and his daughter later held talks with President Uhuru Kenyatta and First Lady Margaret at State House, Nairobi

During the talks, Mr Clinton, assented to President Kenyatta’s request that his foundation supports a pilot project for small scale farmers on environmental conservation.

He said he looked forward to the project reaching 20,000 farmers in 18 months to two years.

Mr Clinton’s love for Africa has seen him scaling up his projects in Kenya over the years.

BEYOND ZERO CAMPAIGN

Ms Clinton’s praised the First Lady for the achievements of the ‘Beyond Zero’  campaign to reduce maternal and child mortality in the country.

She said the Clinton Foundation was proud to be associated with the campaign, as it was important that “no mother dies while giving life”.

Mr Kenyatta thanked the former US President for his dedication to improving the lives of Kenyans, especially in health and education, which are among the Jubilee Government’s key areas of focus.

“We welcome you to Kenya. We would like to partner with you in helping to improve the lives of Kenyans,” Mr Kenyatta said.

The meeting was also attended by Cabinet secretaries Amina Mohamed (Foreign Affairs), Anne Waiguru (Devolution and Planning), Judy Wakhungu (Environment), Joseph Nkaissery (Interior), Jacob Kaimenyi (Education), Adan Mohamed (Industrialisation ) and Henry Rotich (National Treasury).

The Clintons’ visit to Kenya is part of their tour of African countries — Tanzania, Liberia and Morocco — to inspect projects funded by the Clinton Foundation mainly in agriculture, health, education and wildlife conservation.

They are with a 20-member entourage of wealthy donors, many of whom are also expected to contribute large sums of money to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

Mrs Clinton’s bid for the White House could need as much as $1 billion (Sh100 billion).

The visit comes at a time when the Clinton Foundation is being accused in the US of opaque fundraising practices.

Mrs Clinton’s political opponents are also suggesting that she may have used her past influence as US Secretary of State to have donors support the family foundation.

POLITICAL ACTIVITIES

Private contributions have long been integral to Bill and Hillary Clinton’s charitable and political activities. And their continual efforts to raise large sums of money have sparked questions in the media about their obligations to rich benefactors.

“The opportunity to accompany Bill Clinton on trips across the globe on behalf of his philanthropic foundation has for years been considered both a reward for past donations and an inducement for future giving,” Politico, a Washington-based daily publication, reported on Wednesday.

Two African philanthropists are included on a list of members of the Clintons’ travelling party that the foundation released in response to a request from Politico, a respected source of US political news.

Mr Rumi Verjee, a Ugandan who made a fortune franchising Domino’s Pizza in England, is making the trip, as is Ms Hadeel Ibrahim, daughter of billionaire Sudan-born telecom entrepreneur Mo Ibrahim.

Mr Verjee’s own foundation has donated between $500,000 and $1 million to the Clinton Foundation, Politico reported.

Ms Ibrahim, the founding director of her father’s foundation, is a member of the Clinton Foundation’s board and a close friend of Chelsea’s, Politico added.

However, none of the Clintons’ critics dispute the work that the foundation is helping implement in Kenya.

While staunchly defending the Clinton Foundation’s financial practices and its philanthropic work around the world, the charity’s top executive recently acknowledged “mistakes” in its filings with US tax authorities.

“Yes, we made mistakes, as many organisations of our size do, but we are acting quickly to remedy them, and have taken steps to ensure they don’t happen in the future,” said Ms Maura Pally, the foundation’s acting chief executive officer.

Ms Pally insisted that the foundation adheres to high standards of transparency.