EDITOR’S NOTE: It seems Kenya is emerging out of its post-election chaos just a few months ago, unlike Ethiopia, which is on a downward spiral following the 2005 elections. The difference between Kenya and Ethiopia is that the ruling party in Ethiopia, Woyanne, would rather completely destroy the country than give up power. We also have an opposition that is timid, to say the least. The following is a news about the recent successful visit by Kenya’s newly elected Prime Minister to the U.S.
Raila reaps more goodies for Kenya
By Brian Adero and PMPS, The Standard
Prime Minister Raila Odinga reaped more goodies for Kenya during his American trip when he signed an agreement that opens the route for Kenya Airways direct flights to the US.
Raila and American Secretary of Transport Mary Peters signed the US-Kenya Open Skies Agreement for direct flights for airlines from both countries.
Kenya Airways, the only airline in Kenya with the capacity to fly across the Atlantic, can now reap from the lucrative opportunity.
The US also announced that its American Delta Airlines would fly direct to Nairobi from next year.
The agreement, internationally known as the Bilateral Air Service Agreement (Basa), is subject to upgrading of main airports to what is termed Category One Standard.
In anticipation of the agreement, the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA), which attained ISO certification last week, on Thursday confirmed it was upgrading Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to Category One Status.
Transport Permanent Secretary Abdulrazaq Adan Ali told The Standard that by November, the airport would have attained the status.
Raila signed the agreement with Peters just a day after the approval by congressmen, agencies and key US financiers to endorse Sh5.8 billion funding for rehabilitation following post-election violence.
Speaking at the US Transport Department in Washington, DC, Peters said America was keen to work with Kenya’s Transport ministry on aviation.
Saying ‘open skies’ were the standard for modern aviation, Peters pointed out: “We want to remove regulatory barriers to facilitate this aviation accord between Kenya and the US.”
The US has already signed 90 open-sky accords, 20 with African countries, she said.
Raila said Kenya would use the opportunity to link the national airline directly with New York, among other US cities.
“This will make it easier for horticulture and flower businesses,” said the PM.
He indicated that the agreement would help Kenya acquire Category One air status and provide 24-hour services so that travellers would not have to go through Europe.
The PM said the agreement was a crucial link between transport and prosperity of Kenya and the US and noted it would increase the number of American tourists to Kenya.
“Our concentration has traditionally been in the European market,” said Raila.
Transport minister Chirau Mwakwere, who is in Raila’s entourage, said the agreement would provide a vital alternative for the business community and help market Kenya’s tourism.
“It’s been a long process of negotiations,” said Mwakwere.
In Nairobi, KAA Managing Director George Muhoho said: “The authority now joins organisations that have demonstrated full commitment to provide a service that consistently conforms to acceptable global standards.”
He went on: “The process to attain Category One Status is on and we are committed to that.”
Category One rating is a privilege for a country whose aviation standards conform to those set by International Civil Aviation Organisation.
Meanwhile, the US Corporate Council on Africa hosted Raila to a dinner in Washington attended by business people.
The PM told the meeting that one objective of the trip was to promote trade between Kenya and the US.
Corporate Council director Asfaw Alemayehu said its more than 180 members were looking for investment opportunities in Kenya, among them General Motors and Microsoft.
Earlier, the PM met US officials, among them Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, Assistant Secretary for Africa Jendayi Frazer, congressmen and senators.
The Prime Minister held discussions with Rice at her office in Capitol Hill.
Raila and other officials return home on Friday night.
10 thoughts on “A sign Kenya’s healing its wounds – the new PM’s U.S. visit”
This saturday and sunday, KINIJIT General Assembly led by Eng. hailu Shawel is going on full swing in Addis.
Zone leaders from all over Ethiopia making speeches. To Listen live transmission and participate, join Ethiopians in Diaspora Paltalk room.
Kenya is used to colonization and this is nothing more than that with a new name. West friendly “leaders” who never serve the interest of their people are promoted while those who care for their country and people are demonized as nationalist
almost all opposition leaders like berhanu, lidetu, bulcha, merera, birtukan already made trips to america. what is so special about that elias?
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He made the trip as a prime minister and brought huge business opportunities for his country. – Elias
I feel sorry for the people of Kenya, Mr. Odinga is doing the bidding of his masters to appease the people of Kenya by making them feel like they are favored by their master. Underneath this facade the people of Kenya’s standard of living is declining, they tribal differences are being exploited as usual and sooner or later the bubble will burst and people will wonder what happened again. The political “leaders” of Kenya don’t have the best interests of their people at heart, they are nothing more than a clique of tribal chauvinists ready to take power and enrich their bank accounts, to do so they have to do the bidding of their masters. Soon we will hear about famine affecting Kenya just like Ethiopia, a result of economic slavery imposed on them by the bankers of their masters. The trip of Odinga to the US is nothing more than an appeasement campaing designed by the US state department for propaganda purposes.
Here is who you are, Elias,
You deserve it!! And Should shoulder it! A lot will come soon–of who you are.
…..As for the ease with which Elias disrespects, bad mouths and attacks the characters of people he has once praised or professed to respect, my mother would have called such a person sid adeg, balege! Wouldn’t yours?
SID ADEG BALEGE!!!
Tamene (#1) said: “…This saturday and sunday, KINIJIT General Assembly led by Eng. hailu Shawel is going on full swing in Addis…”
LOOOOOOOOLLL,
The topic is Kenya’s PM visit to America. And so, what has this got to do with Dictator Hailu’s General Assembly?
Poor Tamene (Hailu’s dog), The entire Ethiopian medias have ignored the assembly and you want to tell about it in “comment sections” of unrelated topic.
BTW, thank you Elias, for the Media black-out on the AAPO Assembly.
Speaking of AAPO, one of the delegates in the “assembly” said “ye Me.E.A.D. sewoch abren megegnetachin betam des blognal”. Meaning, “I am glad to see all AAPO members get together” he said. And another told him that they are kinijit and not AAPO.
It was very very funny.
#5,Cucu,It is not fair to insult Elias in a way you say it.He is a genune Ethiopian who help us to get a current and up to date information about our country.What contribution or say anything have you given to your country like Elias? If you have any,You may insult him.Otherwise I may call you “Taneka”
Elias,
When is your turn to whip Ethiomedia?
Shame on us! before we are insulting each other ask where our standard is.kenya is by far better in air operations and airport facility and management.they have good radar control coverage and now made their hub a category one which we dont,be it by the govt or other we are way behind compared to most African nations.so the bilateral is a lot for the country.how many years ethiopian flew to the US?
none from their side. yegna neger,
talyanm meta hede temelese,
englizem meta hede temelese,
minas bicha kere bet eyaferese.new.
What a hollow pride some of above commentators have and shameless hypocrites !.And what bunch of thin-skinned some of us are for attacking Elias for telling us the truth
Since when Ethiopia had a genuine nationalist leader who looked after the well being of the Ethiopian people?. And if Ethiopia and Eritrea have good and responsible leaders whom their population can be proud of and Kenyan leaders are stooges of Western masters, then why is it Eritrean and Ethiopian refugees are languishing by their thousands in Kenyan cities and towns while there aren’t Kenyan refugees in either Ethiopia and Eritrea!. How many times have you read Kenyans drowning in the red sea en route to Arab countries out of desperation or dying in the Libyan desert or burnt alive in the run-down slums of South Africa or suffacated inside goods-only commercial containers from Kenya to South Africa via other African countries. How many times any one of you read or heard young and innocent Kenyan girls taken as domestic servants by Arab sheiks in the Middle East and then murdered or physically and emotionally abused. How many avoidable and predictable cycles of famine has world came to attend in Kenya?. How come Eritreans and Ethiopians are fleeing from their countries by the thousands in every direction and are found as refugees in almost every major Western city and town while it could take you years to meet a single Kenyan in the same Western countries unless of course they are respectable students or diplomats. And if and when you find one, you certainly wouldn’t find them working in a parking lot or some other menial job but a respectable well paying professional one. And if Ethiopian leaders are any better than Kenyans, why Meles didn’t accommodate peaceful and civilised political dialogue and settlement as Kenyan leaders did instead of massacring innocent and defenceless civilians in Addis Ababa who only expressed their desire by marching through the streets peacefully?. One can only imagine the scale of massacre if Ethiopians attempted to do the same scale of violence their Kenyan counterparts did in Kenya-but then for centuries Ethiopians used to the kind of abusive and ruthless leaders and wouldn’t mess with them. Mind you, in the post-election Kenyan violence, it was the ordinary Kenyans who murdered one another and not the security forces as was and has been in Ethiopia. In Ethiopia, it is those who are in power who are massacring ordinary Ethiopians and the same can not be said in Kenya.
It is also true that Kenyan standard of living is far far greater than that of Ethiopia and most of their African colleagues.
If this is a representative sample and good reflection of our society’s opinion of our leaders and country, then I guess we deserve the Meles’s and Mingistu’s and others we have been having for centuries and therefore should stop whinings and be happy under their leadership.