Rishi Sunak: The man with Kenyan roots who could be next British Prime Minister

A heated race to find the next U.K Prime Minister weeks after the resignation of Boris Johnson has narrowed down to Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.

Sunak, the former Chief Secretary to the Treasury, is a business and finance professional who started his political career after being elected Conservative MP for Richmond in 2015.

The politician, it has emerged, also has family roots from Kenya.

His father - Yashvir Sunak - was born in pre-colonial Kenya, while his mother Usha Sunak was born in Tanzania. Both are Hindu Punjabis and their parents had migrated from India to Kenya and Tanzania respectively.

In the 1960s, his parents’ families separately moved to Southampton, United Kingdom, his mother and father later got married.

Thereafter, Sunak - who is the eldest among his two siblings - was born in May 12, 1980 at the Southampton General Hospital.

Well, Sunak’s case is nearly similar to that of former U.S President Barack Obama, who is an American citizen but has Kenyan roots as his father was born in Homa Bay County.

Sunak’s opponent in the UK Prime Minister race, Liz Truss. is a seasoned politician who was appointed Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs in September, 2021.

Before her stab at politics, Truss worked in the energy and telecommunications industry for 10 years as a commercial manager and economics director.

She is a qualified management accountant.

Nominations for the U.K Prime Minister opened and closed on July 12, with five rounds of voting among Conservative members of Parliament and two televised debates before Sunak and Truss were announced as finalists.

The successful candidate will succeed Boris Johnson, who resigned on July 7.