By Andrew Ehrenkranz
credit: Simon Maina / AFP-Getty Images
When Barack Obama visited Kenya in 2006, a local beer called Senator promptly became a bestseller. Indeed, so closely did the beverage become associated with the U.S. presidential contender that visitors nowadays don’t even need to get the name right—just ask at a local bar for a cold Obama and they’ll know exactly what to serve you.
Obama is a revered figure here in Kenya, where his father, also called Barack, grew up in the tiny village of Kogelo, near Lake Victoria. And even as Kenya’s post-election turmoil continues to claim lives, the citizens of this African nation are keeping up with the political fortunes of their favorite son. They’re gratified that he’s keeping up with theirs too. Indeed, with a ban on live news broadcasts keeping the rumor mill well fed, some even believe that the Illinois senator is actively intervening to help forge a political solution to the violent outbursts following the country’s disputed Dec. 27 ballot. He isn’t, given that he’s kind of busy right now, but Sammy Nyongesa, a member of the presidential campaign team for Raila Odinga says his boss has been in email contact with the American senator. According to Nyongesa, Obama wrote to Odinga—who is protesting the victory claims by incumbent President Mwai Kibaki in an election widely considered irregular—asking Odinga to persuade his supporters to bring peace. Odinga’s response: “I’m doing what I can.”
Odinga, usually referred to as Raila, certainly hasn’t hesitated to play up his Obama connections on the Kenyan campaign trail. When Obama announced his bid for the presidency, Raila flew to Illinois to take his place among the senator’s supporters. Upon his return to Nairobi, Raila held a press conference on the steps on Kenya’s Parliament, holding up a picture of him and Obama together. “I was with my brother, “Raila said to reporters--and then launched into his own campaign stump speech.
In fact, Obama and Raila may not even be related. But they’ve kept in touch since Obama was elected to the Senate. Obama’s father was of the same Luo tribe as Odinga and many of his Orange Democratic Movement supporters; Obama’s father and Odinga’s father, the late Luo chief and Kenyan freedom fighter turned politician, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, were close friends. Not surprisingly, that means that Obama has overwhelming support among the Luo.
In tougher, poorer areas of Nairobi, machete-wielding Luos in gangs like the Taliban (which has no connection with Afghanistan's Islamist former rulers) consider Obama “family”, and will happily translate the lyrics to Odinga’s campaign song, “Agwambo Malo Malo”, that includes words of praise for Obama: “Obama and Raila are brothers. Obama is the victor on the other side.” In one huddle of about 35 Luo men and women in a Taliban enclave where the slogan NO RAILA, NO PEACE, is sprayed on many stone walls, all agree that Obama’s orders would mean as much to them as commands from their own Raila. “Please pass this message to Obama,” a 28-year-old man named Tobias asked. “Tell him to help us, tell him we are suffering here.”
Even non-Luo want Obama to win the White House. In a Nairobi tavern called The Veranda, one of the affluent young patrons wore an Obama ’08 campaign T-shirt as he shot pool. The student, a Kikuyu who supports incumbent Kibaki, was impressively well versed in Obama’s momentum in the primaries and his place in U.S. politics. For him, Obama was not just a personal role model, but a beacon of hope for Africans trying to succeed elsewhere. So would a President Obama be able to help Africa. Not really. “We have to solve our own problems,” he said. “And so do you people.”
