Being the brother of the most powerful political on earth certainly has its perks, even if that relationship is tainted. But even as Malik Obama, President Barak Obama’s half-brother, stands in the glow of his brother, he wants his own name.
Just three days after President Obama was elected, Malik Obama told GQ that “electricity came here to Kogelo in three days flat. This road that you see was commissioned in three days flat. That electrical transformer you see out the window? Days! There is paved road all the way up to our home, piped water all the way to our home. The whole neighborhood has water.”
Obama’s home, Siaya, in Kenya is home to the Barack H. Obama Foundation that Obama runs in memory of his late father. Obama hopes to be remembered for his work through the foundation, rather than his connection to President Obama.
“At the end of the day, I want someone to remember Malik for the bridge that he built, to remember Malik for the town hall, to remember Malik for the well he dug. I want something for my legacy. I have a name,” he told GQ.
Obama lost his first run for political office as governor of Siaya, a county in Kenya, in March, but he told the magazine that he plans on running again in five years and would certainly think about running for president someday.
“If my brother could be elected president of the United States, why can’t I do something for my people? Or for mankind?” Obama asked. (RELATED: Tax-exempt Obama Foundation doesn’t exist at listed addresses)
Some Kenyans do not seem to trust the older Obama, who has only been back in Kenya for five years, as one of their own. GQ asked an offical election observer about Obama’s plan to one day run for president, and she said, “Pffhhftthh. In a pipe dream, maybe. Maybe that’s ‘the audacity of hope’!”
Obama refutes the claims that he is not one of the people. “The other politicians don’t even live here. They’re in Nairobi—they live in Nairobi! I have an investment here,” he said.