This could be Obama’s last trip to Africa as president. What will his legacy be?

All eyes are on President Barack Obama as he visits the African continent over the next few days.

First stop is Kenya — the birthplace of his father. Then, he's off to Ethiopia. Obama will focus on two key issues in Africa: security and trade. But for some Africa watchers, the trip will be more symbolic than substantive.

"I think that President Obama’s legacy in Africa is about the same as it is for all the other US presidents before him, which is very mixed legacy," says Laura Seay, a political scientist at Colby College in Maine. "Africa is generally a low foreign policy priority for presidents and that’s true whether they’re Democrats or Republicans," she adds.

According to Seay, US presidents have, generally, valued stability and security over human rights and respect for democracy. It's just not a top priority.

Seay says considering that President Obama waited until toward the end of his first term to visit Africa for the first time reinforces its low priority. This visit, she points out, comes towards the end of his second term.

Back in 2014, Obama hosted the first US-Africa Leadership Summit, in which $900 million in deals and investments were said to have been signed.

One program that came out of the summit was called Power Africa. But recent reports suggest the program isn't going well.And Seay says there was already an increase in investment under way, so it's hard to say whether it was a direct result of the summit.

Obama's Africa policy has often been compared with that of former President George W. Bush.

"[Bush] has a great legacy," says Seay. That positive legacy comes from a program called PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief which was launched in 2003. It provided billions of dollars to reduce HIV/AIDS infections and also to fight malaria.

"Many of my students today are so young, they don't remember when HIV was a death sentence for millions and millions in Africa because they've grown up in the era of PEPFAR," Seay says.

Overall in Africa, according to Seay, there is a lot of disillusion and disappointment with Obama.

"Hopes were really high back in 2008, 2009, that a president with African ancestry would make the continent a much higher priority than he has," she says.

But, she says, with such a short time left in office, it's unlikely we'll see major changes in President Obama's policies toward the continent. His latest trip too, will be more about symbolism than action.

"I think we're going to make a lot of nice platitudes, I think we're going to see very little substance."