Ex-President of the United States, Barack Obama, has announced the death of his step-grandmother.
Sarah Ogwel Onyango Obama, a Kenyan, died at age 99.
She was on admission at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral hospital in Kisumu in western Kenya, African Entertainment understands.
Mr Obama shared a heartfelt message on his official Twitter handle to announce her death.
“My family and I are mourning the loss of our beloved grandmother, Sarah Ogwei Onyango Obama, affectionately known to many as ‘Mama Sarah’ but known to us as ‘Dani’ or Granny”.
“We will miss her dearly, but we’ll celebrate with gratitude for her long and remarkable life,” he added.
Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta, has mourned Sarah, observing in a statement that “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.”
In his famous book titled: ‘Dreams from My Father,’ Mr Obama referred to the late Sarah as ‘Granny’.
She was the third wife of Mr Obama’s paternal grandfather, Hussein Onyango Obama.
Mama Sarah as she was widely known, is credited for helping raise Mr Obama’s father, Barack Sr.
She first became prominent in Kenya in 2006 when Mr Obama, a then US Senator paid a visit to Kenya.
Again in 2015, she received Mr Obama in Kenya as the first black President of the US.
After he left office, Mr Obama visited Kenya again in 2018 and was received by Sarah.
Mama Sarah was a Muslim and once worked as a cook for British missionaries in Kenya.
Sarah became widely known around the world following the 2008 election of Mr Obama as the first black president of the US.
Her cause of death has not been disclosed but local Kenyan media reports monitored by African Entertainment say Mr Obama has commiserated with his Kenyan family.
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