I think Miguna’s yet-to-be-launched book is a betrayal of intellectuals in the society. Instead of publishing a scholarly material to nurture a discourse which promotes harmony and best leadership practises, he has come up with a book focussing solely on the weaknesses of the Prime Minister of Kenya, Raila Odinga.
What message is an acclaimed scholar sending to his friends, family and Kenyan intellectuals especially the new generation of thinkers?
How will he convince people that his is not about hypocrisy, hate and bitterness to Raila Odinga after losing his job? This is a wrong use of the power of pen and paper.
I’m not against local authors but it’s myopic to waste valuable time writing a book whose content is primarily centred on an individual whom you have a grudge with. Kenyans need to see better from those who have climbed a higher academic ladder.
I recently read Dr. Shem Ochuodho’s book, The Dawn of a Rainbow, and to be honest, I admired it’s content which provides perspectives on the evolution of our nationhood since independence and leadership failures in the country.
We have people who have done weird things to our lives but we don’t agonise on how to fix them or subject them to public shame. We have to move on. Miguna is playing intellectual gymnastics, which with time, will backfire and tarnish his reputation for good.
I personally don’t know the contents of the coming book, and I don’t want to sound defensive of Raila Odinga but my major problem with the author, is why he decided to raise eyebrows after being dislodged from his comfort zone as advisor to the Prime Minister.
Isn’t this the height of hypocrisy to use obscenities and epithets to your employer when you are fired?
If Miguna cared for Kenya, he would have folded his luggage in protest and quit when he discovered that things were not being done right by his boss. Perhaps he would have become another John Githongo.
Waiting until he is fired to spew fire through the media and writing a book, is an indication that the former advisor to Raila, is an opportunist and does not qualify to be called a nationalist?
Miguna is clever, full of verbose and very manipulative. No wonder, a former Attorney General was right when Miguna created a negative scene during a meeting in Uganda. It’s true Raila’s enemies will break in jubilation when the book is out but to level headed Kenyans, this will not earn Miguna any dignity nor win any of his arguments.
Miguna’s purported tribulations in the Prime Minister’s office is a wakeup call for Kenyans to be careful with public figures who remain silent when things are rosy, but decide to cry foul when their comfort zones are threatened or unsafe. If he cared about fixing things at the Prime Minister’s office, he would have opined to go back when he was reinstated.
We want to see more replicas of John Githongo, who went ballistic on realising that things were not going well in the system. To be honest, which right thinking Kenyans will not trust the former Corruption Tsar?
Trying to demonise Raila, who has weaknesses just like all of us, will not help build Miguna’s career and reputation. We don’t want to hear or read about bedroom stories of individuals unless it’s necessary.
When Matere Keriri was shown the door from State House, is he going round talking negatively about the President? Or when Martha Karua quit the coalition government, is she always talking negative about President Kibaki?
Our country is in the process of healing and reconciliation. This is the time we want to see the top cream of our society stay afloat on issues; arguing objectively without bias while providing tangible solutions on the way forward in order to move us to the next level.
We desperately want to see leadership and direction from learned Kenyans and not the pursuit of narrow and selfish interests through the negative use of academic prowess.
Let Miguna Miguna, join the league of intellectuals, if he thinks he is one, like Mutai Ngunyi, professor Mutua Makau, Egara Kabaji, Barrack Muluka to mention a few, and debate issues objectively and without bias through the mass media. Talking tough to settle political scores cannot help Kenya.
Joseph Lister Nyaringo, New Jersey, USA)
About the Author
Reblogged this on Brain power.
How corrupt is Raila Odinga? Or are they after his name?
Here are some highlights on how Raila is connected to some big shots in the oil and Maize sagas.
From the highlights, Carolli Omondi (Raila’s PA) is very active in these connections and from being a young man struggling to make ends meet, Carolli now is a multi-millionaire with various business interests ranging from Real Estate with splashy houses in suburbs like Upperhill to minefields in Zambia.
This is a man who was just a mere PA the other day. We put this in the forum section so that you can judge for yourself and leave a comment.
Prime Minister Raila Odinga is a billionaire with interests spanning several continents and a business portfolio that has grown significantly since he entered the Grand Coalition, according to his former aide.
Mr Miguna also asserts in his explosive new memoirs, Peeling Back the Mask: A Quest for Justice in Kenya, that some of Mr Odinga’s closest aides have become enormously wealthy since the PM took office.
Mr Miguna links Mr Odinga to controversial South African tycoon Antònio Texeira, the chairman of Petroplus Africa, who is associated with the Branch Energy and Executive Outcomes private security-cum-paramilitary firms that have been criticised for their work in war zones such as the diamond fields of Sierra Leone.
Mr Miguna claims that it is Mr Texeira who gave Mr Odinga the distinctive black helicopter, together with its pilot and mechanical crew in the 2002 election campaigns.
He claimed that Mr Odinga’s business ties with Mr Texeira presented a serious conflict of interest because after the 2002 election, he became Energy minister and was friends with a businessman who wanted to invest in the sector.
Then of course, are Raila’s (and through him, Caroli’s) “connections” to Rupiah Banda, President of Zambia from 2008 to 2011. Caroli frequently boasted to me of their grandiose investments in the copper fields of Zambia.
Now obviously many people would say that Raila was only doing this for the economic good of Kenya. That’s possible. Why, for example, was the Ministry of Energy not involved in the discussions? Why was Caroli – Raila’s Private Secretary – deeply involved in the discussions?”
The South Korean contributed money to Mr Odinga’s campaign in 2007, Mr Miguna claims, but the funds did not reach the campaign and were pocketed by an aide.
Mr Miguna also claims that Mr Omondi and OPM permanent secretary, Dr Mohammed Isahakia, who were suspended to pave way for investigations into the maize scandal, were never really on suspension.
The two were cleared and reinstated. Dr Isahakia was unavailable for comment. But while on suspension, claims Miguna, they were allowed unlimited access to their offices almost every day and were paid full salaries.
Mr Miguna writes that Mr Odinga was introduced to Mr Texeira by another businessman, Tanzanian Ali Ahmed Said of Tanganyika Investment and Oil transport company.
It was Mr Said, he says, who organised the shipment of maize from South Africa to Kenya some of which was subsequently found to be bad.
Is there more to this than we know?
this is not for all kenyans in stolkholm it is for luos