Dele Ade
Mama Sarah Onyango Obama, the grandmother of former US President Barack Obama, is dead.
She was aged about 99 years, having been born around 1922.
On learning of the death, President Uhuru Kenyatta condoled the Obama family, saying Mama was as an icon of family values and a philanthropist whose contribution to the progress of the Kenyan nation will be dearly missed.
“The passing away of Mama Sarah is a big blow to our nation. We’ve lost a strong, virtuous woman, a matriarch who held together the Obama family and was an icon of family values,” the President said.
He said Mama Sarah Obama will be remembered by many for her philanthropic work, especially in her Nyang’oma-Kogelo home in Siaya County where she initiated several community development projects.
“She was a loving and celebrated philanthropist who graciously shared the little she had with the less fortunate in her community,” he said, wishing the Obama family God’s grace as they mourn their departed matriarch.
Her demise was confirmed by her daughter, Marsat Obama, who told the Nation that her mother died at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital, Kisumu at 4.45am on Monday morning. She had been admitted to the hospital on Sunday morning.
She said her mother had been ailing for some time now and had suffered a stroke in September last year.
“She was diagnosed with stroke in September last year and had blood sugar related problems,” she told the Nation by phone.
The family is making arrangements to have her buried tomorrow (Tuesday) at her Kogelo home.
The family’s spokesman Sheikh Musa Ismail said Mama Obama will be buried before mid-day.