Yes, he (too) can: President Obama’s half-brother, Malik running for governor in Kenya (PICTURED)

Malik Obama, 54, half-brother of President Barack Obama, poses for photographs after speaking about the upcoming U.S. elections to an Associated Press television reporter in the village of Kogelo where he lives in western Kenya.

Another Obama is running for office.

Malik Obama, President Obama’s oldest half-brother, is aiming to become governor of the western Kenyan county of Siaya, Bloomberg News reported.

The 54-year-old Malik will run as an independent candidate, he announced over the weekend during a speech in the Siaya town of Kogela.

The national elections will be held March 4. Siaya has a population of more than 800,000 people.

“Siaya County is facing a lot of problems from poor infrastructure to poverty due to bad leadership,” Malik Obama said. “I will change this if elected.”

Malik Obama’s main opposition may come from Oburu Odinga of the Orange Democratic Movement party. Oburu Odinga is the brother of Kenya Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

Siaya has a poverty rate of 35.3 percent, according to Bloomberg, and suffers from some of the highest HIV and malaria infection rates in Kenya. Malik Obama said he plans to use his relationship with his famous half-brother to tackle the county’s biggest problems.

The last national elections in Kenya in 2007 turned bloody as hundreds died while fighting over the results.

Malik and Barack Obama share the same father, Barack Obama Sr. Barack Obama met Malik for the first time in 1985, and the pair have been close ever since. They served as best man at each other’s weddings.

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