BGSU conference to address future of Kenya

BOWLING GREEN, O.—“The Future of Kenya” will be the theme of the first Kenya Scholars and Studies Association (KESSA) conference Friday and Saturday (Aug. 1 and 2) at Bowling Green State University.

Peter Ogego, Kenya’s ambassador to the United States, will be among the guests at the conference, which will be held in BGSU’s Bowen-Thompson Student Union. He will speak at 12:20 p.m. Friday during lunch in 207 Union. The conference keynote address will then be delivered at 12:40 p.m. by Dr. Jendayi Frazer, U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs and former ambassador to South Africa.

The first day of the conference will also feature presentations of papers on the following topics as they relate to Kenya: “Historical and Political Evolution,” “Governance and Political Structures,” “Resource Allocation: Opportunities and Challenges” and “Confronting 21st Century Development: Social and Cultural Issues.”

Panel discussions, focused on identifying solutions to Kenya’s social, political and economic problems, will be held Saturday morning. The conference will close with noon-hour remarks by Dr. Kefa Otiso, KESSA president and an associate professor of geography at BGSU.

KESSA is an independent, nonprofit association bringing together scholars and researchers whose purpose is to advance scientific and research work on the east African nation.

The conference is open to the public. Attendance is free with the exception of the Friday lunch, which will begin at noon and costs $5 for students and $10 for others. Anyone interested in attending the luncheon should contact Otiso by Wednesday (July 30) at 419-372-9352 or kmotiso@bgsu.edu.

More information about the conference, including the tentative program, is available at http://kessatr.googlepages.com/.

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(Posted July 28, 2008 )