Obama’s brother to release book

• George, 27, was in the news when a McCain backer accused Obama of neglecting him

A memoir by George Obama, US President Barack Obama’s half-brother who lives in Huruma, Nairobi, is set to be published.

The book, tentatively titled Homeland, which gives the life story of George, will be published by Simon & Schuster in January 2010.

George Obama, 27, shares the same father with his famous, older half sibling, although George and Barack Obama — 20 years apart in age — did not grow up together and did not meet as children.

George is the youngest of the senior Obama’s seven children and was born six months before his father died.

Little is known about George Obama. However, the world first heard about him last year when supporters of John McCain, then the main challenger of President Obama’s bid for White House, dragged his name into the US Presidential campaigns, accusing Barack Obama of neglecting him and his kin.

Early this year, the younger Obama was arrested in Huruma estate, Nairobi, on suspicion of being in possession of bhang.

He was scheduled to appear in court a day after to be charged with possession of the banned drug and resisting arrest but was released the same day.

Towards the US elections, George became the centre of attraction when a prominent US conservative, Mr Dinesh D’Souza, who was Mr McCain’s supporter, attempted to embarrass the then Ilinois Senator by soliciting donations to a “Compassion Fund” for his half-brother.

Mr D’Souza had accused the Democratic Party’s candidate of “harping on the theme of helping the underprivileged while doing nothing to help his half-brother.”

Rubbished the fund

But the Kenyan Obamas rubbished the fund, saying it was motivated by malice.

Mzee Abong’o Obama, a paternal uncle of the US President, said the fund was not set up “in good faith”, while Ms Auma Obama, a step-sister of the senator said those behind the fund had been ill-informed by negative publicity in the Western media.

The book to be written with author-journalist Damien Lewis, will tell of George Obama’s fall into crime and poverty as a teenager and his eventual embrace of community organising — a passion shared by the president — and of advocacy for the poor, an identification so strong that he chooses to live among them.

“Even had George Obama not been our President’s half brother, his story is moving and inspirational,” Mr David Rosenthal, Simon & Schuster publisher and executive vice president, said in a statement on Sunday, according to the Associated Press. “It is an object lesson in survival, selflessness and courage.”

Financial terms were not disclosed, but an official with knowledge of the negotiations said the deal was worth millions of shillings. The official, who was not authorized to discuss the contract, spoke on condition of anonymity.