Kenyan government imposes gag order on Obama family

The Kenyan government has barred unapproved contacts between the media and President-elect Barack Obama's extended family.

Family members will be required to receive permission from the government before making any public statements about their famous relative, according to the Nairobi Star.

"We are doing this because we want to ensure better flow of information," Athman Said, an under-secretary in the Ministry of Heritage, told the Obama family in Kogelo.

"The government has decided that you should inform its officers who will be based here if you want to address the media."

Journalists wishing to speak with the family must first be approved by the government ....

This is not the first attempt to block press interest in President-elect Obama's African connections.

Prior to the U.S. election, WND senior staff reporter Jerome R. Corsi was detained in Kenya while investigating Obama's close ties to the nation's prime minister, Raila Odinga.

The Kenyan official who reportedly orchestrated the detention was Odinga himself, according to WND sources inside Kenya.

Corsi, whose recent book, "The Obama Nation," raised questions about the Democrat when he was a candidate for president, had scheduled a news conference in Nairobi to discuss his discoveries during his visit this fall.

However, he was detained by immigration officials and held without food for much of a day until he was escorted onto his already-booked flight leaving Kenya with the sendoff, "See you in hell."

Corsi had earlier seen the flow of information stymied by the Obama campaign itself:

"I was able to interview Obama's uncle, Sayid Obama, the brother of Obama's father, when I was doing the research for 'The Obama Nation,'" Corsi said. "But Auma Obama, Obama's half-sister, declined an interview by telephone, telling me that the Obama campaign had advised the Obama family not to speak with me, either from the United States by phone, or in person in Kenya."....

Under-secretary Said, who informed the Obamas they were muzzled, announced the Obama Cultural Home project, which will include a museum, a gallery and a leadership center in the family's town of Kogelo. A video featuring Mama Sarah Obama, the president-elect's step-grandmother, will relate the Obamas' family history. Said added that the Ministry of Heritage is negotiating with the U.S. government to display Obama's publications. ....