Tightly guarded Jill Biden lauds local projects
US First Lady Jill Biden (third left) laughing yesterday as she interacted with staff from Hello Tractor, an organisation connecting tractor owners with smallholder farmers. She is with EAC Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Miano (second left) and US ambassador to Kenya Meg Whitman.
"The First Lady will not take questions from reporters or give interviews during her tour of Kenya.”
That was the brief I got from the US Embassy press office when they asked me to be among accredited journalists to cover the First Lady of the United States, Dr Jill Biden, during her visit to Kenya. I would have wished to ask her a few questions, even from a kilometre away.
Even after taking Covid-19 tests and turning out negative, it was not to be. I settled on reporting from what I observed and heard.
So yesterday, our journey began at the Villa Rosa Kempinski.
We arrived at the hotel at 8 am. Security was tight, with mean-looking secret service and sniffer dogs stationed at different spots.
To say the search we went through was assiduous would be an understatement.
At 11.30 am, the First Lady’s motorcade was ready and we were ushered into a van, but not before the house rules were set. Among them was that once in the motorcade, there would be no disembarking until the end. There would neither be toilet breaks nor lunch breaks.
Uninterrupted ride
I did enjoy the drive as our motorcade sped through Uhuru Highway onto Ngong’ Road uninterrupted.
Our first stop was Ngong Racecourse along Ngong’ Road. Security here was tighter than at the hotel. There were a few local police officers and secret service scattered across the large field where three green tractors were strategically positioned.
Four farmers, dressed in “Hello Tractor” branded T-shirts, stood next to one of the tractors. Hello Tractor is an agricultural technology company that connects tractor owners and farmers.
We (journalists) were positioned a short distance from the tractors. A few minutes later, Dr Biden walked in accompanied by US ambassador to Kenya Meg Whitman and East African Community Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Miano.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t capture much here. However, the farmers decried the high cost of fuel, to which Dr Biden proposed the introduction of electric tractors. One farmer went down on her knees, I guess pleading for support in the venture.
Our next stop was at AP Community Faith Ministry Church in Kibra where Dr Biden, together with Kenya’s First Lady Rachel Ruto, met the “Women of Peace” group. The group operates under Joyful Women Organisation (Joywo), an NGO that was founded by Mrs Ruto to empower women economically and enhance household food security through table banking.
The group, formed after Kenya’s 2007 post-election violence, is made up of women from different communities to enhance peace and unity among communities that clashed at the time.
“We want to spread this joy across this nation. I am glad to see the women of peace very joyful,” said Mrs Ruto, adding that they currently have 150,000 members.
Dr Biden lauded Mrs Ruto for her initiative of empowering women, something she said is dear to her.
“Here, you have found a way of doing your own banking system, which is pretty incredible. It’s ingenious that women found a way to support other women to increase economic prosperity for their families,” she said.
Our last stop for the day was in Lavington where Dr Biden engaged Shujaaz, a local youth group.
As we stood by the roadside and watched the motorcade drive off, I wished I got a chance to find my way back to town in it. But it was never to be.
Nevertheless, I got a chance to see Dr Biden at a close range.
