Post date: Jan 22, 2013 5:56:42 PM
United States President Barack Obama's message of hope and change has inspired his half-brother Malik to launch his own political career in Kenya ahead of elections in March.
KOGELO, KENYA (JANUARY 22, 2013) (REUTERS) - President Barrack Obama's message of hope and change has inspired his half-brother Malik to launch a political career of his own, with his eye on elections inKenya in March. Malik, 54, is running for governorship of the rural Siaya county as an independent candidate.
He said his sibling's message resonates with a Kenyan electorate angry over a political class widely regarded as greedy and corrupt.However, the odds are stacked against him as a lone candidates in a country where ideology is trumped by tribe or clan ties. This is the first time independents have been permitted to run in an election after a constitutional change in 2010.
Malik, who is a polygamist with 10 children, has a campaign team that includes some family members and volunteers. He is unsure if the big name recognition he brings to the race will give him an advantage.
"We want another Obama here, for the simple reason in that it brings the world together. The fact that Barrack is the president of the United States has opened up a lot of doors, it has broken the glass ceiling. Nobody can say because we are black, we can't do this, because we are African we can't do this and so forth, so I want that connection to be alive and breathing when they see not only in America but also in Africa," he said.
He said his younger brother has flourished by following the footsteps of their father,Barrack Obama Snr - the first African to attend the University of Hawaii before returning home to work in the senior echelons of the Kenyan civil service.
Malik insisted that although his inspiration came from his sibling, his race in the election was motivated by a desire to foster economic development and to answer the call of duty.
"The main thing he told me was to be honest, to be sincere and to have a tough skin because people will be shooting at you, they will be throwing everything at you and especially the media, there will be propaganda there will be stuff like that but as long as I am sincere in what im doing and I am focused, to go ahead and do that because at the end of the day the truth will always be the judge," he added.
Malik, a resident of the United States, has lived in Washington DC since 1985 where he worked with various firms before becoming an independent financial consultant.
In his office are framed photographs of himself with President Obama in the Oval office and another at the president's wedding, where he was the best man.
He lives partly in the United States where he takes up work contracts from time to time and Kenya.
Obama said he is running as an independent to avoid being beholden to party grandees whom he blames for what he says is the failed leadership in the country of 40 million.
Some Kogelo residents have thrown their support for Obama based on what they claim he has done for the region.
"As a Kogelo resident I will vote for Malik my vote because Malik has brought a lot of development here in Kogelo like he has built bridges he has helped widows and even orphans," said a Kogelo resident George Ochome.
But others disagree saying that his candidature does not mean much but personal chest thumping.
"You can't tell people that if they vote you in you will go to America think he is just bragging that his brother is the president of America and that if we don't vote him in he will go to live in America, how many Kenyans live in America anyway," said Mark Omondi.
Obama's campaign slogan is "Just as it is in United States, I want it here", he said in his office in a recreation centre he set up with the Barrack H. Foundation, a charitable organisation he founded to build houses for women and orphans.
With a population of 832,000 people, the main economic activities in Siaya county are subsistence farming and small trading. Many residents live in mud huts with thatched roofs.
Obama wants to help build new roads, water and electricity supply, hospitals and small-scale industries once he is elected governor. After conquering this, he has eyes for an even bigger prize, the Kenyan presidency at the next elections in 2017.