Obama didn’t skip aunt’s memorial, says Malik

President Barack Obama’s half-brother, Malik Abong’o, has defended the US leader against accusations that he skipped his aunt’s funeral service to play golf.

Mr Abong’o said the President attended a family meeting, which preceded the funeral service before excusing himself as he had a state engagement in Asia.

“The President left for Asia the following day after our meeting on April 16 in the White House where he gave his contribution.

Therefore, media and press reports that he was golfing are unfair and malicious. He made time to meet and discuss with us the arrangements for her funeral,” said Mr Abong’o, who has just returned from Boston, US.

Ms Zeituni Onyango, the US President’s aunt, died in a south Boston nursing home last month after a battle with breast cancer.

Mr Abong’o, who unsuccessfully contested the Siaya gubernatorial seat last year, said President Obama cited commitments and asked him to chair all family meetings in Washington and Boston.

“He gave me the full mandate to represent him in all these meetings as his elder brother. People should stop reading mischief over his absence at the memorial service. My brother has done much for the Obama family. You do not expect him to climb on a watchtower or on top of a tree to talk about it. And remember that he is the US President,” he said.

He accused the media of seeking to portray Mr Obama, whose father Hussein Obama was born in Kenya, as being out of touch with his extended family.

“The Obama family is united in sadness and grief over the loss of our aunt and all we wish for is for her to be buried with the dignity, honour, and respect that she deserves without unnecessary drama,” he said.

CONDOLENCE NOTE

Mr Abong’o was reacting to reports in international media, including the Daily Mail and New York Times, that Mr Obama had skipped the memorial service to play golf.

It was The Weekly Standard which first reported that Mr Obama was playing golf at the time of his aunt’s memorial.

“On that day, Obama was at his regular golf course at Joint Base Andrews with frequent golfing buddies Marvin and Walter Nicholson and Joe Paulson,” the paper said.

UK’s Daily Mail stated: “In 2001 when then Illinois State Senator Barack Obama’s first child was born, it was Obama’s Kenyan aunt Zeituni Onyango who stepped in to help new parents Barack and Michelle. Onyango, who had moved to the United States the year before on a visa, took care of baby Sasha and kept the Obama’s Chicago home in tidy order.

“After Onyango, 61, died at a Boston, Massachusetts nursing home after battling breast cancer and respiratory issues earlier this month, President Obama returned the favour by helping to pay for her funeral expenses. He did not attend the funeral. He hit the links and sent a condolence note.”

Mr Abong’o told the Sunday Nation that Ms Onyango’s remains would be buried in a Muslim cemetery in Kisumu in the next few days.

“The family is finalising arrangements to rest our lovely auntie at the Muslim cemetery in Kisumu. The body will be flown into the country any time from this week,” he said. This revelation may set the stage for a duel with Mr Ebel Mboya Okoko, 69, from Homa Bay County, who claims that Ms Onyango was his wife and that he should be allowed to bury her according to Luo traditions.

Mr Okoko has indicated that he would be moving to court to be granted the right to bury her.

“Let the courts decide whether I am an impostor or the legal husband to the late Zeituni,” he said, arguing that he had four children with Ms Onyango.

According to him, the fact that the dowry he took to Kogelo (Ms Onyango’s birth place in Siaya County) was never returned means their marriage still holds. Mama Sarah Obama, the President’s grandmother, has also said that she wants to see Ms Onyango’s remains flown and interred at home.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT

Observers reckon that Mr Obama did not bother with Ms Zeituni while she was living in the US to avoid being seen as sympathetic to illegal immigrants, which would have cost him the second term in office and she had no money.

But perhaps what has kept Mr Obama from closely associating with his Auntie in the US is her immigration status which almost marred his re-election campaigns in 2012 when it emerged that she was staying in the US illegally. He had to come out and state that the due legal process should take root and that he was not going to intervene to help her out.

It suffices to mention that weeks to her death, Ms Onyango had been successful in obtaining asylum on the US soil and was lined up to be granted citizenship in the next five years.