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Nairobi - US President Barack Obama on Sunday urged Kenyans to help end endemic corruption in a speech to the nation that also focused on the need for gender equality and national unity.
Corruption was tolerated across Kenyan society and seen as "a normal state of affairs," Obama told 5 000 invited guests, who included representatives from civil society and schools, human rights activists and prominent media personalities.
"Corruption costs Kenyans 250 000 jobs every year because every shilling paid as a bribe could be put into a job," Obama said to massive applause in Nairobi's Safaricom arena.
Kenya, which with 45 million citizens, is one of Africa's most populous nations and ranks 145 out of 175 countries on the advocacy group Transparency International's corruption index, in which the higher the number, the greater the graft.
"Here in Kenya, it's time to change habits ... because corruption is an anchor that holds you down," Obama said. "... It's going to limit development of the country as a whole."
Obama slams Kenyan president
Obama had already slammed Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Saturday during political talks for not doing enough to end corruption.
Obama, however, stressed on Sunday that Kenya was making major progress in other areas.
Growth of 6.5% in East Africa's largest economy is expected this year. On the downside, economic growth isn't shared broadly enough, Obama said.
More than 40% of Kenyans live under the poverty line of $1.25 a day, according to the United Nations, and four out of every 10 people are unemployed.
"Kenya is at a crossroads - a moment filled with peril, but also with enormous promise," Obama said.
The country needs to focus on gender equality if it wants to realise its potential, nationally as well as globally.
"Imagine you have a [sports] team and you let only half the team play. That's stupid," Obama said.
"Treating women as second-class citizens is bad tradition. It's holding you back," he added with reference to unequal employment opportunities for women, lack of access to education for girls, early marriage and genital mutilation.
Fighting terrorism
Obama also spoke about the need for national unity to fight terrorism in Kenya, where ethnic and tribal tensions killed about 1 100 people in 2007 post-election violence.
"Violent extremists want us to turn against each other," the president warned. " ... They target societies where they can exploit divisions."
Repeated attacks by the Somali Islamist militant group al-Shabaab have killed more than 500 people in the past two years in Kenya.
"President Barack has a vision for Africa," Moses Mungai, 17, said after the speech.
"I felt encouraged," the high school student said. "... He is telling us that the future of Africa lies in ourselves and we don't wait for Western countries to come and transform us."
Twenty-one-year-old Rhoda Naserian said she was delighted Obama addressed gender equality.
"I felt that these issues need to be addressed and taken seriously, [especially] considering that I come from a minority community, one that practices female genital mutilation and underage marriage," Naserian said.
Obama's first visit as president
Obama's visit is the first to Kenya by a sitting US president. It is his first to his late father's homeland since he became president in 2009, but his fourth visit to the continent.
The first day of Obama's four-day state visit to Kenya and Ethiopia was filled on Saturday with political meetings to address terrorism, economic recovery and human rights.
Obama said he wanted to be in the region "because Africa is [economically] on the move," but he also criticised Kenya for discrimination against gay men and lesbians and endemic corruption.
Saturday's talks were expected to relaunch the bilateral relationship with Kenya after Washington was widely understood to have opposed the candidacy of Kenyatta in 2013 because of the charges at the International Criminal Court he was facing over 2007 post-election violence.
Kenyatta won the election, and the charges against him were dropped in December.
Obama will travel to Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, on Sunday night, where he is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on Monday.
Before his return to the United States on Tuesday, Obama is set to meet with civil society representatives and visit the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa.
