06/10/2025
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Barack Hussein Obama Sr., father to former U.S. President Barack Obama, was once one of Kenya’s most promising economists after independence, serving in the Ministry of Finance.
His sharp intellect and outspoken nature, however, led him into conflict with President Jomo Kenyatta’s government after he criticized favoritism in resource distribution.
The fallout was severe — he was dismissed, blacklisted, and left struggling to find stable work.
As his career and finances crumbled, Obama Sr. turned increasingly to alcohol. Friends nicknamed him “Mr. Double-Double” for his love of strong Scotch doubles, a habit that worsened his personal troubles and strained his many marriages.
His drinking and misfortune led to a series of devastating car accidents.
The first, in 1970, left him with a permanent limp. A second in the early 1970s shattered both his legs, forcing an amputation below one knee and leaving him dependent on prosthetics.
By the early 1980s, his life had descended into poverty and isolation.
On November 24, 1982, at just 46, he died in a car crash along Ngong Road in Nairobi after reportedly drinking earlier that night. The official report cited drunk driving, but his family suspected foul play — pointing to his past political disputes and connections with opposition leader Tom Mboya.
Though no proof of a cover-up was ever found, the mystery of his death remains part of Kenya’s political folklore — a tragic end to a brilliant man whose life was marked by courage, controversy, and personal struggle.
