Malik Speaks of 'Frustration' With Obama, His half Brother

Malik, US President Barack Obama's half-brother is a bitter man; so bitter and sad at his brother because he has done so little or nothing to help the family back in Kenya since becoming leader of the most powerful nation in the world.

His anger is also directed at the US Democrats, and believes that is their way of doing things and will never support Hillary Clinton who has been endorsed for the White House by Obama.

"I don't like how the Democrats operate," he told Capital FM News on telephone from Kogelo in Siaya County Monday. "This Trump guy is a really cool guy and I like him because he speaks from his heart and he is down to earth." "Trump has my vote."

Malik believes Clinton has not properly articulated her policies and what she will do if elected to change America.

"Trump is so much concerned about security and he wants to make America great," he said.

"Trump is honest, and that is what the Republicans are all about. But the Democrats just give lip service and telling people what they want them to hear. Their politics are not honest."

"But look at Trump, the guy speaks from his heart and you can see he is very honest in what he says. He speaks what he thinks. It is not like someone is prompting him."

Malik, who is Obama's elder half brother, said he still loves him even without supporting a candidate he has endorsed.

"It is not that I don't love my brother when I say I will vote for Trump, but it is because I have freedom to choose. I am my own man, and I am entitled to freedom of expression," he said.

When Trump learnt on Friday that Obama's brother was supporting him, he promptly tweeted "Wow, President Obama's brother Malik just announced that he is voting for me".

Malik said he's hoping Trump will not change once in office.

"Trump has my support and I hope he will not change when he becomes president," said Malik who is a voter in America.

"I just came back here (in Kenya) briefly and I will be going back to America to vote, and I will vote for Trump. He has my vote."

Asked why he can't vote for Clinton, Malik said, "she is not honest. She is not speaking from deep down. Look at her speeches, they are all scripted. They are not natural like Trump's."

He is also unhappy that Hillary was let off the hook in the emails scandal.

"After the recommendation that she will not be prosecuted, I didn't like it at all because it seems the system was for her," he said.

In an interview on wide-ranging issues, Malik also spoke of how the Republican leadership helped "free slaves."

"You remember George Bush re-opened my aunt's file and gave an executive order that she should not be deported," he posed. "What has my brother done…? My brother did nothing."

He was referring to his aunt Zeituni Onyango, a half sister of Obama's father.

"It still baffles me that when he came to Kenya he told us that he can't associate too much with family back home just because he is the President of the United States, and that he needs to finish his term for him to associate more. It does not make any sense at all," he said.

You know, he quipped, "it's like telling someone who is sick I will not help you but wait until you die and you will go to heaven."

Malik is not convinced that Obama will offer them help once he is out of office, because "This is the time we need him most, not when he is out of the White House."

He believes that even Kenya as a country needs Obama now more than when he is out of power.

"It is now that Kenya wanted him most so that he can bring up support on things like hospitals, universities, employment and even come up with scholarships," he said, citing Uganda and Tanzania.

"Kenya should have benefited more from his presidency, but it has not." "He could have opened scholarships like Tom Mboya did." He had little kind words for his brother.

"It is kind of hypocritical of him," Malik said, "Everybody knows he is from Kenya, there is nothing to hide that he must wait until he is out of White House to associate more with Kenya. He shouldn't fear at all to support his family."

President Obama was in Kenya in July 2015, the first ever visit as president but he did not come with his family, an issue that seems to bother Malik to date.

"You see he goes to Hawaii, even now he is in Hawaii and he goes with his family but when he comes to Kenya he does not come here with them," he wondered, "you see he also went to dine with the Queen and he went with his family, but they can't come to Kenya with them."

Malik wonders why Obama made it a big deal that he has roots in Kenya during the Democratic Convention when he was seeking votes, but has turned his back to the third world country where his father was born and is buried.

"His father comes from here and that is a fact," he said, "You remember during the Democratic convention, he made it a big deal about Kenya, but when he became president he went quiet."

Malik told of how the family was excited when Obama was declared President of the United States, but yet they have nothing to show for it, or talk about.

"We were excited that our brother is the President of the United States of America but now we are at the end of the queue," he said of Obama's assurance that he can only associate more with the family once he is out of office.

And we asked him if he has shared the concerns with the US President who is on his final term, he said: "I don't fear him. I told him you should not think you are God because you are the President of the United States. Think of us also. That is what I told him."

And he says he did get a response for this from the world's most powerful man.

"He just said he is the President of the United States and that those issues are dealt with by the Department of State which cannot just give him a visa.

I didn't understand when he said he can't get special treatment from the Department of State. That is a big no."

Malik who has previously visited Obama at the Oval office in White House said he does not see any reason why the US President should not support them.

"I know they get favours, you see the other day I received a cheque of $100,000 from a guy he (Obama) nominated to the board of trustees for the Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts. It was sent to my foundation yet it was meant to go before the Barack Obama Foundation in Chicago. I had to send it back," he claimed, "So you see they do favours for each other. It is kind of hypocritical that he can't support us."

Malik still wonders why Obama did not support his bid to become Governor for Siaya County in the 2013 General Election.

"That is what brothers are for, but he didn't support me when I was vying to be a Governor," he said, "I am sad and heartbroken that things have turned out this way."

On what he thinks of the entire scenario and Obama's decision not to support them, he said, "I am older than him, but I can say power has corrupted him."