Malik Obama, the half-brother of United States President Barack Obama is standing for the position of governor of Siaya County

AFRIK UPDATE




Today, Kenya goes to the polls to choose a president, members of parliament and senators, county  governors and members of the newly-formed county assembly. Malik is standing for the position of governor of Siaya County, a role which would see him leading nearly a million people. Average earnings here are 100 Kenyan Shillings (about 80p) a day.
 
‘Malik Obama has international connections which can attract investment to build factories and manufacturing industries,’ trumpets the text. ‘Malik Obama is a new leader who will bring new direction to our county.’
The leaflets add that charity does not alleviate poverty — it can only be halted by ‘empowering poor, youth and women by tapping their potential’.

Female members of his extended family accuse him of being a wife-beater and philanderer, who seduced the newest of his estimated 12 wives while she was a 17-year-old schoolgirl , chasing, marrying and divorcing young local women.
A crime in a country where the legal age of consent is 18


He pays his staff at the Obama Foundation less than £5 a week — without breakfast, lunch or dinner — and his workers spoke openly about their dislike for their boss with the famous name.


‘He doesn’t give a damn about other people,’ one of his employees told me. ‘We all have wives and children and he doesn’t pay us enough to feed them. But he’s happy to give young women money to come and live with him here.’
 
‘He is a jealous and selfish man,’ says Mr Ogombe. ‘He’s a rich man, but he’s mean with money and time. He won’t even give you a lift and just drives past alone when you wave. He thinks all the glory should be his. He wants to be a parallel force to Barack. I don’t like him.’

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