Nairobi Star (Nairobi)
11 December 2008
Nairobi — The government has blocked Kenyan members of President-elect Barrack Obama's extended family from talking to the media.
Family members will have to ask permission from government before issuing making any statement concerning Obama.
The government will also vet all those seeking information about the family.
"We are doing this because we want to ensure better flow of information.
The government has decided that you should inform its officers who will be based here if you want to address the media," Athman Said, an Under-Secretary in the Ministry of Heritage, told the Obama family in Kogelo yesterday.
A proposed Obama Cultural Home comprising of a museum, a gallery, a library and a leadership centre will be put up in Kogelo, Said told the family. A cultural officer, Dorcas Obege, will be assigned to Kogelo to vet visitors and others seeking information about the family.
Said, who was leading a delegation from the Department of Culture, said the government had set aside Sh30 million to upgrade the proposed Obama cultural home.
Athman said his department was liaising with the United States government to have both published and un-published materials by President-elect Obama on display at the proposed library. The government was also planning to produce a video of Mama Sarah Obama, the President elect's step-grandmother, telling the history of the Obama family.
The government has graded all the roads leading to Kogelo and set up a police station within the home to protect the Obama family after there was an attempted robbery.
Kenya Power and Lighting Company has also connected power to what used to be a sleepy village. The value of land has doubled in the last few months and several investors are understood to be planning to build hotels in the area to provide for the many tourists who are expected to visit Kogelo on what will be known as the Presidential Heritage Tourism Circuit.
Heritage minister William Ole Ntimama confirmed that the government had decided to make Obama's fathers home in Kogelo , Siaya district into a national heritage site.
"This is a great opportunity to open up the western tourism circuit and we have asked Treasury to find us some money so that we can roll out a number of projects that will make this a truly memorable cultural site," said Ntimama.
He however expressed surprise at the veto on the family talking to the media. "I am not aware of that ban because my officers have not told me about it. It will be surprising if they have done that because it is not right. The Obama family should be allowed to say whatever they want to without any bureaucracy," said Ntimama.
The location of the proposed heritage centre has caused a row in the family with some Obama relatives from Kendu Bay insisting it should be built at Kanyadhiang which was Obama Senior's ancestral home before the family moved to Kogelo.
The family made the claims last week to Gender and Culture Minister Esther Mirugi who unveiled a signpost showing where the museum will be built in Kogelo.
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HARVARD LAW SCHOOL LEGAL ANALYSIS 101
The issue is closed. THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA HAS PASSED ON THE ISSUE: PRESIDENT ELECT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA is a United States citizen.
I agree with the Supremes.
Obama is hot as at now, therefore anything regarding the president- elect attracts people. They are curious, they have not had enough of him yet. It is known that common people are especially attracted to negative stories about famous or powerful people. The media knows that. So the crap about President elect Obama birth place is just one of the stories that flourishes their business. Stop the crap, haters. OBAMA IS AMERICAN, FROM THE USA.
You're an illiterate idiot. The only crap to stop is the crap Obama dishes out. If he is US born, he would have proved it by now. He isn't, so he hasn't. If the "rumors" and "smears" ever stop, it will be because he finally showed his real birth certificate. He can stop this any time he chooses to do so. Of course, as soon as he does so, he won't be president any more.
You know this is why we need Obama and I am glad that you brought this up because a lot of black babies were born at home! We need Birth Certificates with at least 2 generations including cousin's this would really help the Police, and Hosptals, Some people leave wills and some don't. We all need to become one family and give money up! Why can't we just keep our stories Straight! Idenity theft has been a problem since Moses A false report should be against the law!(and not published like toxic waste)
The birth certificate issue is not closed. The US Supreme Court still has to decide whether or not it can hear the Cort Wrotnowski vs Susan Bysiewicz, case. http://origin.www.supremecourtus.gov/docket/08a469.htm
President Elect Obama seems to be aware of these controversies given the fact that a copy of his birth certificate has been posted on his web site at http://fightthesmears.com/articles/5/birthcertificate as a proof that he was indeed born in the USA
I personally believe that the suit will be dismissed by the Supreme Court Justices because of the constitutional chaos, and destabilizing effect such a hearing would create in the… [Read Full Text]
The wrongheaded action was deep sixed by the Supremes, period.
I shall not revisit this silly issue again. If you wish, you may check the Supremes' website.
Now, let us focus on the Kenyan obscurantists. The Supreme Court of Hawaii's determination in favor of Obama was AFFIRMED by the Supremes.
If so, and it is thus, then the clamp up directive, if credible, can only issue from a 'government' seeped in Odingaism, and Odinga is an ignoramus in matters political---and now, sadly and ominously, juridical matters.
May God save us from the silly antics of this clown of African… [Read Full Text]
I agree with you with reference to Odinga. I however want to bring to your attention the fact that there is a strong connection between Obama and Odinga. In August and September 2006, the now President-Elect Barack Obama traveled to South Africa, Chad, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Chad and Kenya as a congressional delegation. While in Kenya, Obama consistently appeared at the side of fellow Raila Odinga (“your agent for change’), who was running for President.
Obama’s partisan support for Odinga was considered so transparent, that the Kenyan Government spokesman, Alfred Matua, complained of political posturing to aid Odinga’s election chances: “It… [Read Full Text]
See all comments (18).
Is this new development connected to the Birth Certificate controversy surrounding President-Elect Obama? Some of his relatives and in particular is grand-mother (who never left Kenya) claim that she was "there" when Obama was born 1961.
More and more news organizations in the US are covering stories claiming that Obama was actually born in Kenya and not in Hawai. Other legal experts believe that even if Obama was born in the USA, he may still not be eligible for the office of President of the United States because he was not a "natural born US citizen" at birth. They… [Read Full Text]