US President Barack Obama receives a bouquet of flowers from Joan Wamaitha upon arrival at the JKIA. | image source: the-star.co.ke
The recent trip by US president Barack Obama to Kenya and Ethiopia is expected to have cost American taxpayers up to KES 8 billion, according to security experts and the National Taxpayers Union Foundation.
Air Force One, the President's plane, costs KES 21 million ($210,000 for each hour that it is in the air, according to the most recent estimate from Fiscal Year 2015, verified by NTUF.
"The President's trip to Africa has taken him to Nairobi, Kenya from Andrews Air Force Base, and on to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia then back to D.C. for a total flight time of 29 hours, at a cost of $5,983,773 (KES 609 million)", NTUF said in its estimates of the costs incurred by Air Force One alone.
There were also heavy expenses to secure the US president immediately he entered the Kenyan airspace last Friday up to his departure from Addis Ababa on Tuesday.
Besides Air Force One, Obama had at his disposal in Kenya his two Marine One helicopters, two Cadillac limousines nicknamed The Beast. An additional 50 to 60 limousines were flown in for American personnel.
Obama was traveling with 20 Congressmen as well as US National Security Adviser Susan Rice.
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