MIGUNA’S BOOK, INTELLECTUAL GYMNASTIC AND SYCOPHANCY

Miguna Miguna’s yet to be launched book is a betrayal of intellectuals in our 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 individual weaknesses of the Prime Minister of Kenya.
Who is perfect in this evil World apart from Jesus Christ? Raila Odinga, the man Miguna’s book boasts to have taunting revelations according to the book’s excerpts from a local daily, is not perfect. Not even the most respected personalities in the globe whether dead or alive can claim perfection.
We don’t want to hear or read about bedroom stories of individuals unless it’s necessary.
I haven’t seen or read the book but I want to challenge the author that as an acclaimed scholar, he is sending a wrong message to many intellectuals in the Country especially the new generation of thinkers. You don’t differ with a person and resort to devising ways to fix or the tarnish the person’s image.
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. Kenyans need to see better from those who have climbed a higher academic ladder.
How will Miguna 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 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 agonize 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 don’t want to sound defensive on 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 not a nationalist? If he cared about fixing things at the Prime Minister's office, he would have opined to go back when he was reinstated.
Miguna is clever, full of verbose and very manipulative. No wonder, former attorney general Amos Wako, was right when Miguna created a negative scene during a meeting in Uganda. Its true Raila’s enemies will break in jubilation when the book is out but to level headed Kenyans, this will not dignify or make the former advisor win any argument.
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 anti-Corruption Tsar?
When Matere Keriri was shown the door from State House, did he go round or use the mass media to talk negatively about the President? Or does Martha Karua quit the grand coalition government, 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.
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