Corruption inhibits investment in Kenya-Obama

NAIROBI, Aug 25 (Reuters) Excited crowds mobbed US Senator Barack Obama on Friday at the start of a four-day visit to Kenya, his father's homeland, but he harshly criticised corruption in the east African country.

Obama, the only African-American in the US Senate, is on his first official visit to Kenya, although he has visited relatives here before.

Despite a movie-star welcome on the streets from thousands of Kenyans wanting to shake his hand, Obama lost no time in highlighting the damage done by a string of graft scandals.

Obama told a news conference he had raised corruption issue during a meeting with President Mwai Kibaki.

''Kenya does not yet have the kind of transparency and accountability that encourages development,'' Obama said.

''I indicated to (Kibaki) that corruption is one of the major impediments to bringing in foreign investment.'' A dizzying array of corruption scandals has rocked east Africa's largest economy in recent months, causing anger and disappointment among both foreign donors and ordinary Kenyans.

Shouting ''Obama talk to us'' big crowds thronged around the senator as he ended a visit to the site of the 1998 bombing of the U.S. embassy, blamed on al Qaeda.

Born in Hawaii to a Kenyan father and an American mother, the 45-year-old Harvard-trained lawyer was elevated to the Senate in 2004.

As a rising star in the Democratic Party, Obama has been promoted as a new face who can appeal across racial lines.

Obama is expected to travel to his father's native village in western Kenya tomorrow.

REUTERS MS RK2230