Barack Obama's Half-Brother Malik Runs for Kenyan Elections

Barack Obama's half-brother Malik has decided to run for a governor's position in Kenya's nationwide elections on Monday, according to AP.

"I'm going into it as Malik Obama," he said. "I can't run away from my name and association with my brother, but I have the feeling that people somewhat want to see who the brother of Obama is."

Malik's message is based on "change", just like the 2008 presidential campaign of his half-brother. He said his platform is poverty eradication, infrastructure development and industralisation.

"I hope that you all out there will support me and vote for me for this important position so that we can bring change to the county of Siaya," he said at a recent campaign stop.

The older half-brother recently made a trip to India as the chief guest at a convention organised by a spiritual leader, Bramhrishi Kumar Swami, in Vrindavan, Mathura.

"Guru Kumar Swami and I met when he was on a visit to New York in 2011. He got in touch with me through my philanthropic foundation, the Barack H. Obama Foundation, of which I am the chairman and founder," Malik told The Indian Express.

"We work for the alleviation of the standard of living of the needy and also take up environmental work. This is where Guruji and I crossed each other's path."

A graduate in finance and accountancy, Malik, 54, has worked for the American Red Cross and firms such as Lockheed Martin and the Federal national mortgage association.

He is running as an independent candidate for the post of Siaya governor in Kenya's first election since 2007, when more than 1,000 people were killed in an eruption of tribal violence.

Barack Obama's father was from Kenya and the US president has several relatives in the country.

In the documentary "2016: Obama's America," based on the book "The Roots of Obama's Rage" by conservative writer Dinesh D'Souza, one of them, George Obama appears for the first time in public and talks about his half-brother.

George Obama, who lives in poverty in a hut in Nairobi, Kenya, has refused to criticise the US president for lack of financial support, according to an exclusive interview. The film has an anti-Obama agenda but the 30-year-old is full of praise for his "half-white" brother.