Following the launching of Miguna Miguna’s book on Saturday, 14th July 2012, the Kenyan media has been saturated with excerpts, analysis, reports and commentary about the book. Although Onyango Oloo, the first reviewer of the book who is also a close friend of Miguna, stated that the book is not entirely about Raila Odinga, attention has focused on a chapter entitled “Peeling Back The Mask” which is essentially about Raila.
Since the hype about the tell-it-all book began to attract wide media coverage, expectations have been high especially on corruption scandals and underhand dealings connected to Prime Minister Raila Odinga, the man to beat in the next presidential elections in Kenya.
I have been listening to Miguna Miguna very carefully during his TV interviews while I have also studied the core content of Peeling Back The Mask. The book accuses Raila Odinga of being a billionaire while the PM is also accused of being surrounded by corrupt personalities whose principle interest is making money. Further, the book takes the view that Raila’s reform credentials are gone because he has joined the camp of wealth grabbers. These observations are not new and keen observes will note that they have all been covered in my book – Raila Odinga’s Stolen Presidency: Consequences and the Future of Kenya. What is new in Peeling Back The Mask are the sensational details about alleged corruption scandals which are neither referenced nor supported with documentary evidence.
During the launch of my book in Stockholm on 31st January 2008, Milton Obote, a Kenyan, asked me about the political nature of Raila Odinga following his appointment as Kenya’s Prime Minister. The following was my answer on Raila’s billionaire status and the reader is encouraged to draw own conclusions:
January 31st 2008
Okoth Osewe
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