Monthly Archives: July 2012

Ban Miguna Book, Religious Leaders in Malindi Tell State

Posted on by
Reply

Religious leaders in Malindi now want the government to ban the book Peeling Back the Mask: A Quest for Justice in Kenya, by Miguna Miguna if it wants the country to remain peaceful. They said the book has brought divisions in the country. Led by the bishop Thomas Kakala, the leaders said claims in the book that Prime Minister Raila Odinga was involved in corrupt deals and the in the 2007/08 post-election violence, are baseless. “The book is meant to fuel violence in the country,” said the leaders.

Speaking to journalists in Malindi at the weekend, Kakala said: “The book was not published in good faith. We have already seen how different people are reacting to it and this is not a good show as we are approaching elections. The book has brought divisions in the country.” Kakala said Miguna is being used by some politicians to finish Raila politically. “We are not saying that the book is full of lies but the way the book is handled it leaves more questions than answers,” he said.

The bishop further pointed out that if it was true Miguna witnessed corruption at the PM’s office as he claims he could have resigned early and report the matter to the
police. “Why did he wait till he was sacked so that he can start to peel back the mask? Does it mean that he could have been quite if he was still there?” Kakala wondered. Miguna claims in his book that he had evidence to link Raila and other leaders to post-election violence and that there is corruption at the PM’s office.

The Star

Why It Is Difficult to Believe Miguna Miguna

Posted on by
Reply

I would like to engage the accusation that those of us who do not believe Miguna Miguna’s books seem to be attacking the man, rather than responding to his accusations. Let me start by saying that what is happening to Miguna is natural. To use an example that in no way suggests that Miguna Miguna is a mad man; imagine a mad-looking man accosts you and your friend in the street and accuses your friend of stealing food from him; would you believe the fellow? I do not think so. In fact I doubt you would even give the accusations second thought. The reason is that we have a natural tendency not to accept the word of someone who looks like they are mentally unstable.

However as is being argued, what if a by-stander confirms that your friend could have taken the mad man’s food. This third party’s intervention introduces credibility to the accusations and will make you look beyond the state of the mad-looking man to the accusations themselves. However what if you then learn that this third party supporting the allegations is actually a ‘certified enemy’ of your friend. You immediately go back to where you do not even consider the accusations.

A third scenario is where you are then advised that the mad-looking man is not actually mad. You are informed that despite the odd dressing, loud noises and disturbing facial expressions that he is making when putting across the accusations, the man is going through a traumatic experience in his life. Maybe he has lost of a key job that gave him prestige and public profile/power; or maybe he is going through a difficult social relationship and struggling through marital issues; or maybe he is reacting to having to re-locate back to a difficult location that he had left, vowing never to return to; a proverbial reverse trip from what looked like Canaan flowing with milk and honey, back to Egypt where he now has to slave in an environment where he is looked down on based on the color of his skin. This means the man is not mad but just going through an emotive point in his life that has psychologically destabilized him.

This means that maybe you should look at his accusations beyond the state of his mind. So let us look at Miguna Miguna’s book itself. Reading Miguna’s book one realizes that out of the approximately 500 pages, 300 pages concentrate on Miguna Miguna himself. This is where he speaks about his growing up and early education, as well as making disparaging remarks about nearly everyone he has encountered over the years. They end with his move to Canada, where against all odds and despite difficulties settling in as an African, he actually sets up a law firm.

It is not until Chapter 9, somewhere near page 285, that he starts speaking about ODM and the Prime Minister. However again he spends the next two chapters (close to 100 pages), explaining how powerful he was in the party, how close he was to the party leader, and/or how he literally shouldered the entire burden of making the candidate the President in 2007, and thereafter ensuring Raila did not make a fool of himself whilst negotiating against President Kibaki. This means that Miguna actually only dedicates a maximum of 200 pages of a 500-page book, to his allegations against the Prime Minister.

However even within these 200 pages Miguna not only attacks Raila Odinga himself, (who he incidentally does not tie directly to any allegation he makes); but the Prime Minister’s immediate family and close business and political associates as well. He especially goes after the PM’s Chief of Staff, Caroli Omondi and Permanent Secretary Isahakia; two people he clearly dislikes even more than Raila Odinga.

But let us assume 75% of the 200 pages (150 pages) is about Raila Odinga’s ills, for the sake of building a balanced argument. Let us then consider that a single page in a book like ‘Peeling of the Mask’ has an average of 400 words per page; which means he has written approximately 60,000 words against the Prime Minister. Compare this with the over 50 articles (which also translate to approximately 60,000 words incidentally) that Miguna wrote in ‘The Star’ over close to two years. Each of these articles were as venomous as those words in the book; but they were in support and towards protecting the Prime Minister, from the same accusations he now makes!

So here is a man who first writes a 60,000-word series of articles in a public newspaper over two years; not for profit and of his own accord (as he explains in the book), to be read by hundreds of thousands of Kenyans, saying one thing. Then writes another 60,000-words in 8 months, puts them in a Sh3,300/- book to make profit, and says something completely different!

In essence asking us to believe Miguna’s book is like saying we should believe in a book written by Moses Kuria saying Uhuru Kenyatta is a bad leader, were he ever to write one.

Wambugu Ngunjiri

The Star

Miguna Miguna Book May Fail to Obstruct Raila’s Presidential Quest

Posted on by
Reply

By Ng’ang’a Gicumbi

Now that Miguna Miguna’s much awaited book Peeling Back the Mask is in public domain, one is bound to ask: What is he really trying to sell and to whom? To the more perceptive, Miguna is desperately keen on selling something more than a book. His reformist credentials? Maybe. His book talks about his reform credentials. His desire to see Kenya change? Probably. He positions himself as a ‘true’ mzalendo (patriot). His need for money? Likely. He has been out of job for some time now. His desire that Raila does not become president? I don’t know.

I will hasten to say Miguna’s interests would be taken care of better under a Raila presidency because they share a lot in common. I also hypothesise that the ultimate import of Miguna’s book will not be about destroying Raila’s career per se; rather it will serve to demythologise and crack open the Raila myth that has tended to ascribe to him some superhuman qualities and probably create a human Raila that people can relate to. This is the unexploited potential of Miguna’s book that Raila will need to capitalise on.

I suggest too that Raila and his handlers could benefit from the negatives about their man as captured in this book since they resonate with the general weakness of our body politic, which is linked to the various moral distortions from our collective national psyche. This way, Raila and company could as well steal the thunder away from Miguna and make his book an impotent cloud, with no thunder or rain. But let’s pause a moment and reflect on a ‘fearful’ possibility. What if this book achieves its alleged political objective, that of destroying Raila’s political career? One quick response is that Kenya’s political landscape will miss Raila’s political gravitas. But would this not be expecting too much from mortal man whom the Bible says is just like grass, finite? Again, the next president could roast Raila alive.

That Raila has come to exemplify the alternative ‘better’ option for Kenyans is something that is taken for granted in many quarters. He is reputed to have a sizeable national constituency that is willing to die with him, maybe literally. I guess the major worry for Raila and his handlers may have begun the moment Miguna made public his intention to write a book after falling out of favour with the ODM’s jakom (power man). I suppose the real head cracker for them right now is how to hold intact this ‘Raila constituency’, a fertile launching pad for the PM’s presidential quest.

But what if Miguna’s book fails in its alleged objective? I guess Miguna will join the ranks of Kenya’s whistleblowers many of who have faded into obscurity and earned the pitiable title – ‘the forgotten heroes of Kenya’. The only decisive way that can make Miguna’s book irrelevant and his accusations against Raila seem politically sacrilegious is for Raila to win the presidency. Anything less will be damning for him. In the short and more immediate term, Raila and company will need to urgently convene a damage control team that will methodically manage the disappointment and fury Miguna’s book has elicited.

It is my free suggestion that a legalistic approach may not help the Raila cause. He will need to establish credible spin machinery, which will be tasked with the job of thinking through convincing counter-points. So far the various pro-Raila campaign outfits are clearly short of properly delineated and articulated political agenda for their man and seem to be everywhere and nowhere. This deficiency only serves to make his presidential quest seem imprisoned by a mob.

It will also be interesting to reflect on how Miguna’s book will bolster the chances for the “Ocampo Four”. But this is a topic for another day. Now, if Miguna’s book carries the day and Raila is maligned irredeemably and his stab at the presidency emasculated, it will be because Raila and company did not adequately take advantage of the contrast effect theory first noted by the 17th century philosopher John Locke, who observed that lukewarm water can feel hot or cold depending on whether the hand touching it was previously in hot or cold water.

In psychology, contrast effect basically means that some perception (say weight, brightness or sweetness) will appear greater or lesser depending on a perception that came immediately before it because they contrast so strongly and the memory of one affects your perception of the other.

The question to ask here is basic: will the public memory of Raila as a ‘reform icon’ be damaged by Miguna’s revelations to the contrary? Will Miguna’s lesser stature as a hardheaded reformist and moralist eclipse Raila’s public stature and hence change public perception of Raila?

The writer is a behavior scientist

The Standard