Obama Urges Kenyans to Fight Graft

NAIROBI, Aug. 28 -- Sen. Barack Obama urged Kenyans to take control of their country's destiny by opposing corruption and ethnic divisions in government during a speech Monday in Nairobi.

Kenya and other African nations will never thrive if their citizens cannot count on government to deliver services fairly, regardless of their tribal background or ability to pay bribes, the Illinois Democrat told about 600 people at the state-run University of Nairobi.

"In the end, if the people cannot trust their government to do the job for which it exists -- to protect them and to promote their common welfare -- all else is lost," he said.

Obama on Tuesday will visit the world-famous Masai Mara Game Reserve in southern Kenya, followed by trips to Djibouti and Chad. He began his two-week tour of the continent Aug. 18 in South Africa.

He has received the warmest and largest welcome in Kenya, his father's homeland. Kenyans have claimed him as one of their own even though he was raised mostly in Hawaii and did not know his Kenyan father well.

On Monday, Obama acknowledged the irony of a politician from Chicago, known for its long history of public corruption, talking about good government. But while corruption is universal, he said, in Kenya it amounts to "a crisis that's robbing an honest people of opportunities they have fought for."

Government officials did not immediately respond to Obama's comments Monday. The senator had a closed-door meeting with President Mwai Kibaki last week.

Kenya has been roiled for years by widespread allegations of corruption. Kibaki won election in 2002 promising to root out corruption that had become endemic under the 24-year rule of his predecessor, Daniel arap Moi. Now, he too is facing mounting pressure to respond to allegations of high-level graft.

Kibaki's administration has pointed to its efforts to root out corrupt judges and ongoing investigations into high-level wrongdoing. Officials also have said the government alone cannot fight corruption and has asked individuals and companies to stop paying bribes.

Obama said Monday that the Kenyan government must reduce patronage jobs and increase salaries for public employees to reduce the temptation for taking bribes. It also needs clear laws and regulations, so that individual bureaucrats cannot twist the rules to their own ends, Obama said.

"Finally, ethnic-based tribal politics have to stop," he said to applause from the audience of students, university staff, business leaders and others.