Obama’s half brother in Kenya says he married teen
Sunday, 17 October 2010 00:00 .
President Barack Obama’s polygamist half brother in Kenya has married a 19-year-old woman more than 30 years his junior. Malik Obama, 52, told a Kenya news station that the teen quit school and wanted to get married. He appeared on video taken by a hidden camera, although he knew he was talking to journalists.
“She decided she doesn’t want to go back to school. She wants to get married now. She came here and what am I supposed to do? So we are married,” Malik Obama said on the video broadcast by NTV.
Sheila Anyango is now Malik Obama’s third wife, although he did not say when the wedding took place. Polygamy is legal in Kenya if it falls under religious or cultural traditions.
The 19-year-old’s mother told The Associated Press on Friday she is furious that her daughter quit high school and married the 52-year-old. Mary Aoko Ouma says her daughter tried to marry Malik Obama two years ago, but the mother says she wouldn’t give permission.
Ouma said she has struggled to send her six children to school since her husband died in 1996, and that she was severely disappointed Anyango didn’t finish. Ouma said Anyango was setting a bad example for her other daughter who is still in high school.
“I told her not to get married until she has finished her education. Let the world teach her a lesson even if she has problems in her marriage. I don’t want to see her again,” Ouma said.
Ouma said she did not receive a bride price from Malik Obama but that if she received one she would spend it on her other children’s schooling.
Jane Omogi, a district education officer in Siaya in western Kenya, said officials are investigating, but she declined to make any further comment.
Barack Obama’s father had at least six other children in his native Kenya. Kenyans have claimed the U.S. president as one of their own even though he was raised by his mother and did not know his Kenyan father or relatives there well.
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Sunday, 17 October 2010 00:00 .
President Barack Obama’s polygamist half brother in Kenya has married a 19-year-old woman more than 30 years his junior. Malik Obama, 52, told a Kenya news station that the teen quit school and wanted to get married. He appeared on video taken by a hidden camera, although he knew he was talking to journalists.
“She decided she doesn’t want to go back to school. She wants to get married now. She came here and what am I supposed to do? So we are married,” Malik Obama said on the video broadcast by NTV.
Sheila Anyango is now Malik Obama’s third wife, although he did not say when the wedding took place. Polygamy is legal in Kenya if it falls under religious or cultural traditions.
The 19-year-old’s mother told The Associated Press on Friday she is furious that her daughter quit high school and married the 52-year-old. Mary Aoko Ouma says her daughter tried to marry Malik Obama two years ago, but the mother says she wouldn’t give permission.
Ouma said she has struggled to send her six children to school since her husband died in 1996, and that she was severely disappointed Anyango didn’t finish. Ouma said Anyango was setting a bad example for her other daughter who is still in high school.
“I told her not to get married until she has finished her education. Let the world teach her a lesson even if she has problems in her marriage. I don’t want to see her again,” Ouma said.
Ouma said she did not receive a bride price from Malik Obama but that if she received one she would spend it on her other children’s schooling.
Jane Omogi, a district education officer in Siaya in western Kenya, said officials are investigating, but she declined to make any further comment.
Barack Obama’s father had at least six other children in his native Kenya. Kenyans have claimed the U.S. president as one of their own even though he was raised by his mother and did not know his Kenyan father or relatives there well.
Add comment
•Comment Form Guidelines: The comment form must be filled in with a proper or legitimate sounding name and email address. Comments using keywords, spam or suspicious information in the comment form will be edited or deleted.
•Email Privacy: Email addresses are required for commenting, and they are not published on the site, nor shared. They may be used however in comments published in the print edition of our titles.
•Language and Manners: This site is “family friendly” and comments which include offensive or inappropriate language, or considered by the site administrator to be rude and offensive, will be edited or deleted.
•A Comment is a conversation: A comment which does not add to the conversation, runs of on an inappropriate tangent, or kills the conversation may be edited, moved, or deleted.
•What To Do If Your Comment Does Not Appear: If you leave a comment on this site and it does not appear, do not worry. It is only undergoing a mandatory review process to see if it meets the criteria listed above.
•No Personal Attack Comments Permitted: In the interest of fair play, no personal attacks are permitted in this site's comments. You may question or argue the content, but not attack the subjects in the item nor any other 'commenters'. Failure to respect fellow participants on this site could result in blocked access.
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•Hold Harmless: All comments within this site are the responsibility of the commenter, not the site owner. By submitting a comment on our site, you agree that the comment content is your own, and to hold this site, [www.dailytrust.com], and all subsidiaries and representatives harmless from any and all repercussions, damages, or liability.
