Nairobi - Kenyan police have set up a 24-hour guard outside the home of US presidential candidate Barack Obama's grandmother after thieves targeted her home, reports said Friday.

Obama's grandmother Sarah, 86, said burglars broke in through her kitchen door in the western Kenyan village of Kogelo and attempted to steal a solar panel from her roof.

Local police chief Johnston Ipara told the Daily Nation that two tents had been set up outside Sarah Obama's home until a permanent police station was built nearby.

"The police can stay here as long as they wish, they are most welcome," Sarah Obama said. The senator's grandmother has expressed concerns over her security in the past.

Close relatives told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that her life had become almost impossible since her grandson's rise to prominence, with her privacy being constantly invaded.

Sarah Obama told the Daily Nation that some people have pretended to be journalists in order to gain access to her home.

Senator Obama's father, the late Barack Obama Senior, was born in Kenya but fathered Barack while in the United States. The Democratic presidential candidate has only visited Kenya a handful of times.

His Kenyan family connections are being used for political capital, with US conservatives accusing him of failing to support his half-brother George, who lives in the Nairobi slum Huruma.

US conservative Dinesh D'Souza has started a "George Obama Compassionate Fund" and is encouraging people to donate to pull the senator's brother out of poverty.

However, Obama's Kenyan relatives dismissed the fund, saying it was the result of negative publicity in the Western media and that no help was needed. (dpa)