In the July issue of GQ, writer Marshall Sella traveled to Kenya and found himself the only Western journalist covering Malik Obama’s run for governor of the southwestern county of Siaya. Malik Obama is the elder half-brother of the American president, and besides having a father in common, they share a zeal for politics–sort of. Here’s five things that popped out from Sella’s profile:
1.) He’s the D-list version of President Obama: First, his political platitudes are not quite there. “Keep your head in the sky, but your feet on the ground,” Malik Obama instructs Sella. “Fly with the eagles, but also walk with the turtles!” This is when Sella realizes that “soaring oratory isn’t necessarily a genetic trait.”
2.) He, too, has a birther problem: Malik Obama runs and loses, badly, with most of the locals proclaiming that they’ve known him “for five years,” which sounds pretty harmless, though it turns out to be code for carpetbagging. Malik Obama spent too many years living in the United States. “That’s right: Malik’s got a Birther problem,” Sella writes. “This family just can’t catch a break.”
3. ) He’s a polygamist: The American president has quite the extended family in Kenya thanks to the obvious math of polygamy. “Malik Obama has anywhere between three and twelve wives, depending on what newspaper you favor; he also tells me that it is taboo in his Muslim beliefs to count his children,” Sella reports.
4. ) He’s a sore loser: Once the election results are in, Malik Obama tries to avoid the awkward follow-up interview, breaking an appointment with Sella, having his secretary say he’s gone away. Of course, once Sella comes back to his office, there Malik Obama sits. “We both now understand that I must pretend I never heard his many brush-offs,” Sella notes.
5. ) He’s a tad corrupt: Malik Obama gushes about raising money for widows, building footbridges, helping out the people of Siaya all in the good name of the Barack H. Obama Foundation. “Yet when I finally return to the States and get in touch with all sorts of people, any attempts at documenting Malik’s acts of charity will fall short,” Sella says.
Luckily for President Obama, Malik Obama makes it very clear the “charity” is named for his father, not his brother. And speaking of that, the African Obama seems to have a love/hate relationship with the American one.
“In the dedication of Malik’s own tome, of the twenty-three people specifically listed (along with everyone who is ‘making this world a better place’), President Obama’s name is not included,” Sella writes. “The late Muammar Qaddafi gets an unexplained tip of the hat—but not Barack.”
