By ERIC OLOO

The Kenya family of US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has halted all media engagements until after the US presidential election on November 4 .

The move has been taken to give Obama’s paternal grandmother, Mama Sarah Onyango Obama a break, according to a family member Mr Said Obama.

In the recent past, a battery of local and international journalists have been visiting the home on a daily basis to seek interviews from the 85-year old granny.

But Mr Said Obama said the family would open up to the media on November 5, a day after the elections.

And on Wednesday, Siaya District police chief Mr Johnston Ipara said security officers would restrict entry to the home to ensure the family privacy is guaranteed

“People who visit the family’s home in K’Ogelo will be restrained from conducting interviews to the family members,” he said

Mr Ipara added the move was taken to ensure that people, especially the media, do not pre-empt the outcome of the US elections by using comments from the family members.

“We do not want Mama Sarah Obama to be disturbed at the moment she needs time to monitor the elections as they unfold,” said Ipara.

He said all visitors to the home would be thoroughly screened by the police before being allowed in.

Obamamania

Meanwhile, Obamamania continued to grip Kisumu town and its environs as hawkers cashed in on the craze to sell branded T-shirts, caps and badges.

Dancehalls have also recorded a high number of songs recorded in vernacular languages in praise of the US presidential candidate whose father was Kenyan.

Source: The Daily Nation