KENYA: "What's the big deal?" Obama's family says about half brother living in Nairobi slum

Record ID: 360798

  • Title: KENYA: "What's the big deal?" Obama's family says about half brother living in Nairobi slum
  • Date: 29th August 2008
  • Summary: (BN09)KISUMU, KENYA (AUGUST 28, 2008) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MALIK OBAMA TYPING ON A LAPTOP OBAMA'S HANDS (SOUNDBITE) (English) MALIK OBAMA, BARACK OBAMA'S BROTHER, SAYING: "I haven't had a chance to examine the article, I just hear that there is an article about my brother and I was just making a statement to clarify the situation that George is my brother, he lives in Hu
  • Embargoed: 13th September 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVABDTU2GRG93YJ2SBFPU178IQQX
  • Story Text: The Kenyan family of U.S senator Barack Obama says his half brother George Obama is getting unnecessary attention after reports in an Italian publication said that he lives in a slum on "less than a dollar a month".
    As U.S senator Barack Obama prepares to formally accept the Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday (August 28) his family in Kenya is hoping to set the record straight after reports said his brother is living in a Nairobi slum in abject poverty.
    One of Obama's six half brothers, Malik Obama, told Reuters that reports about his brother in Italian magazine Vanity Fair, were not a "big deal".
    The article reported that Obama's other half brother George Hussein Obama was living in Huruma, a slum on the outskirts of Nairobi on "less than a dollar a month".
    Obama opponents have accused the Illinois senator of neglect. A Texas Republican advert, poses questions to his supporters, "If Barack Obama cares so much about your family, why doesn't he take care of his family first?"
    Obama wrote a 1995 best-selling memoir, "Dreams From My Father," which focuses on his search for identity and his effort to connect with his absent father through a trip to Kenya to discover his ancestry. Obama mentions several members of his family, including George Obama in the book.
    George who is the youngest of Obama's half brothers told the local Daily Nation newspaper that he did not live on less than a dollar a month and that "life is good."
    He has been weary of speaking to swarms of journalists who have visited him at his home saying he feared that skewed interpretations of his interviews may jeopardise his brother's presidential campaign.
    Malik Obama, who is seen as the family's spokesman in Kenya said the attention was unnecessary.
    On Thursday night, the 47-year-old U.S. senator takes his place in the history books as the first black presidential nominee of a major political party.
    Obama's Kenyan family is keeping a close eye on the campaigns and hope their brother will make it to be the first black American president.
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