US President Barack Obama says he's planning to spend more time with his Kenyan family after the end of his presidency.
"Given the job and the bubble, I can't come here and just go upcountry and visit for a week and meet everybody," Obama, who is on a four-day state visit to Kenya and Ethiopia, said on Saturday during a press conference in the capital, Nairobi.
Obama had visited the family of his late father Barack Obama senior, who died in a car accident in 1982, "in jeans and a backpack" in 1992.
He met his relatives in his father's home village of Kogelo, near Lake Victoria, to introduce his fiance Michelle, whom he married in October of the same year.
The next time Obama returned to Kogelo was as a senator in 2006 as part of a six-nation tour of the continent.
"Once I am a private citizen, I will have more freedom to reconnect," the president said.
He promised to return to Kenya with his wife and their daughters Malia and Sasha, saying he was also hoping to engage in philanthropic work in the East African nation.
"The next time I'm back, I may not be wearing a suit," he said.
The previous evening, Obama received dozens of family members, including his step-grandmother Sarah Obama and half-sister Auma Obama, for dinner in his Nairobi hotel.
"Mostly we were just catching up," Obama said about the dinner.
"There was some more extended family who I had not met before."
"There are cousins and uncles and aunties that you didn't know existed but you are always happy to meet," the president added. "It was a wonderful time."
Share
