These days Obama is running for governor in Kenya. No, we are not talking about the U.S. president. It’s his brother Malik who went into politics, and he is now competing to be elected as governor of Siaya county, a rural and impoverished region in the west of the country, where the brothers’ native village of Kogelo is, and where Malik, a Muslim, came back from the U.S. four years ago, settled down and opened a restaurant. His campaign motto reveals a flair for humour: “The best option: Obama there, Obama here”. Poll results are uncertain, but one thing is for sure: Malik is a natural-born negotiator. In order to obtain permission to photograph him, we had to buy him lunch in his own restaurant, as 'a contribution to my campaign'.
