In an awkward moment of tension, Mr. Obama condemned Kenya’s treatment of gays and lesbians as “wrong—full stop” while standing alongside Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta during a joint news conference.
The president, whose personal story has deep resonance in Kenya, even used himself as an example of why discrimination on the basis of gender, race or sexual orientation should be illegal.
“As an African American in the United States I am painfully aware of what happens when people are treated differently under the law,” said Mr. Obama, whose father was born and raised in Kenya.
“For Kenyans today the issue of gay rights is really a non-issue,” Mr. Kenyatta said, stressing matter-of-factly that economic and security concerns are of higher concern.
Mr. Kenyatta’s comments drew applause from Kenyans attending the news conference, while Mr. Obama looked on expressionless.
Homosexual acts are illegal in Kenya, punishable by 14 years in jail. Kenya has made some recent strides on gay rights. Kenya’s highest court ruled in April that gay and lesbian groups have a right to formally register under constitutional provisions that prohibit discrimination.
But the issue underscores some of the persistent divides between the U.S. and Kenya despite increasing efforts to strengthen ties.
The two leaders, sharing a stage in a leafy courtyard on the grounds of Kenya’s State House, said they made strides on growing security concerns in east Africa with the rise of al Qaeda-affiliated groups.
Kenya in particular has been buffeted by a series of attacks by al Qaeda-linked militants in the past two years—including the deadly four-day siege of a shopping mall in 2013 that killed 67 people and an attack on a university in April that left 148 dead.
Kenyan forces have been a key part of the African force fighting al-Shabaab in Somalia but the government has struggled with how to prevent attacks from the group inside Kenyan borders.
Many of the militants who have launched attacks in Kenya were Kenyan citizens and the government has responded with a fierce crackdown on Muslim communities and Somali refugees—prompting accusations of human rights violations.
Mr. Obama pledged additional U.S. funding and training for the Kenyan security forces to deal with security threats. He also criticized Mr. Kenyatta’s approach of cracking down on specific groups or citizens as one that could backfire by “increasing the pool of recruits for terrorism.”
The U.S., he said, has seen potential “lone wolf” terror attacks but not the formation of systematic networks in part because of its approach to law enforcement.
Unlike on the issue of gay rights, Mr. Kenyatta said he agreed with Mr. Obama and would try to do better.
“This issue of terrorism is new to us,” he said. “We will continue to improve.”
Mr. Obama also made the case the Kenyan government’s infamous corruption is one of the major obstacles to increasing economic success.
In Kenya, bureaucrats regularly expect bribes in return for pushing through anything from a driver’s license to a business permit. Police at traffic stops commonly shake down motorists for cash to overlook often-nonexistent infringements.
The government has made efforts in recent years to try to reign in the small-level corruption. Parking fees, for example, now are collected electronically so that workers cannot pocket the cash.
Mr. Kenyatta has been the subject of broader corruption and human rights concerns.
The International Criminal Court had charged him with committing crimes against humanity for his alleged role in fomenting the violence that erupted after Kenya’s 2007 presidential election. Some 1,200 people were killed and 600,000 fled their homes because of ethnic fighting after that vote
The ICC withdrew the charges against Mr. Kenyatta in December, however, saying the Kenyan government had blocked the prosecutor from gathering enough evidence to proceed with the case.
Mr. Obama said part of the reason he has not visited Kenya before his sixth year in office was because of “deep concerns” over the violence that took place around the election.
He also quipped, when a Kenyan reporter asked him why he waited so long to visit: “I didn’t want people to think I was playing favorites.”
Mr. Obama’s two-day stop in Kenya has been one of the most anticipated trips of his presidency.
He first visited Kenya as a young man in search of his father’s roots, much of the experience was conveyed in his memoir, “Dreams From My Father.” Mr. Obama recalled his first time in Kenya on Saturday, saying he arrived in jeans and a backpack.
On Friday night, he returned in a suit and tie, landing in Nairobi on Air Force One and trailed by a large entourage.
Mr. Obama said he spent time explaining his new life to some three dozen of his Kenyan relatives over dinner Friday night. Some of them he has long known, such his half-sister Auma and his step-grandmother, Sarah, whom he calls “granny,” while others he was meeting for the first time.
“There were lengthy explanations in some cases of the connections,” Mr. Obama joked. He said he talked about the demands of the presidency and the tight security restrictions that come with his job.
“I can’t come here and just go up country and visit for a week and meet everybody,” he said he told them.
But, he promised: “I’ll be back.”
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