KENYA MIGUNA WAR: SARAH ELDERKIN Peeling Back Miguna's Mask

I have defended Miguna Miguna in the past, both in print and in private – at least, it was meant to be private, until Miguna broke an undertaking of confidence and made a private communication public.

That is typical of the Miguna we have unfortunately come to know – a person with deeply worrying issues and insufficient personal morality to restrain him from selling his friends down the road, let alone to prevent his embarking on a campaign of all-consuming personal vengeance filled with hatred.

Many of us, including Raila Odinga – the object of Miguna’s poisonous wrath, have tried hard to save Miguna in the past. Ultimately, in the Prime Minister’s office, it became impossible to keep Miguna and to protect him from himself.

It is deeply sad that a man with a good brain should be tortured and destroyed by emotions he cannot control, so that he ends up a victim at the mercy of his own self-destructive inner turmoil.

Other responses to charges in the Miguna book, Peeling Back the Mask, will follow this. But first, we need to peel back the mask that Miguna Miguna himself wears. Let us examine the untold Miguna Miguna story.

Anyone who has watched Miguna on television will have seen the staring eyes, the jabbing finger, the overbearing ranting and raving. But it was Justice Mohamed Warsame who referred very succinctly to Miguna’s inner turmoil, in dismissing, on December 15, 2011, the case Miguna had brought challenging his August 4, 2011, suspension from the Prime Minister’s office.

In his judgement, Warsame made some interesting observations about Miguna. Speaking of his own perceptions (not issues raised by lawyers), Warsame said that Miguna was a man “who exhibits mental and emotional fits in his defence of issues”.

He spoke of Miguna as having a “relentless sense of fighting back”, as one “who appears unpredictable and ready to fight”. Warsame added, “He is described as a man living in [a] mental darkroom.”  

It is from the turmoil of this “mental darkroom” and out of his “relentless sense of fighting back” that Miguna decided to do his very best to destroy the man for whom he had previously and fervently declared his “love”, and whom he revered.

Miguna is a man of wild extremes. His actions have nothing at all to do with Raila Odinga. They have everything to do with Miguna Miguna, his lack of balance, and his distorted sense of self.

Let us begin by setting straight the record concerning the relationship between Miguna Miguna and Raila Odinga. Contrary to the wildly delusional claim in the publicity for his book, Miguna Miguna was NOT “for six years … the Prime Minister’s most trusted aide”.

Miguna Miguna was NEVER the Prime Minister’s most trusted or most senior aide. The fact is that Raila never felt he could fully trust Miguna, and that is why he deliberately kept him at arms’ length in an office on Nairobi Hill, and never allowed him to operate from his own town-centre office.

Trust is surely something that must be declared by the person doing the trusting. The Prime Minister has never voiced or shown such trust. The claim is entirely of Miguna’s own fabrication.

Then there is the “six years” Miguna speaks of. By his own admission, Miguna met Raila Odinga for the very first time in October 2006. Note that that is not yet six years to date.

Raila had gone to Toronto at the start of a speaking tour and from there continued to a number of similar functions in the USA. Miguna, of his own volition, travelled along with the party from his home of two decades in Canada, to Raila’s next stop, in Minnesota, which was the first of many on that tour – Washington DC, Atlanta, Huston, Omaha, Kansas City, New Jersey.

Miguna has claimed that he paid for this trip and met the expenses of Raila Odinga, a man he had never previously met, and certainly a man who had no need of or desire for Miguna’s sponsorship.

The tickets for the trip were, as confirmed by Raila’s friend Paddy Ahenda, who over the past weekend has consulted the relevant records, bought in Nairobi through travel agent Al Karim. It is one among many of Miguna’s self-aggrandising statements.

From that first meeting in Toronto, we fast forward four-and-a-half years – not six years – to the day Miguna Miguna was, on August 4, 2011, suspended from the office of the Prime Minister for conduct unbecoming. 

During those four-and-a-half years, Miguna was an employee of the Prime Minister’s office for just under 2½ years, having been appointed by President Mwai Kibaki on March 6, 2009.

Six years? Miguna Miguna is a master of exaggeration and fantastical ravings.

After that first meeting in October 2006, Miguna (who, like everyone else, could calculate that Raila Odinga had a very good chance of taking power in Kenya the following year) apparently took stock of his own situation in his adopted country, and decided that this was his opportunity to leave behind a chequered and rather uncomfortable past, and to reinvent himself back in his homeland.

Much of Miguna’s legal work in Canada had consisted of assisting immigrants, including immigrants from Kenya. In the course of this work, the 40-year-old Miguna had been publicly arrested on November 4, 2002, and charged with sexual assault on one of his clients, a 19-year-old woman.

Miguna appeared in court for trial on July 14, 2003, when he was rearrested and charged with further counts of sexual assault on another immigration client.

The trial judge acquitted Miguna, ruling that the alleged victims’ evidence was partially contradictory and not strong enough (as so often happens in sexual assault cases) to sustain a secure conviction. The trial judge did not, however, rule that Miguna’s accusers had acted maliciously, nor that they had formed a conspiracy, nor that they had lied.

Miguna reacted in a manner we have come to recognise – by suing everyone in sight. The defendants ranged from the Queen of England through the Canadian minister of justice, crown attorneys and the Toronto Police Board, to police officers involved in his arrest, for what a Canadian Appeal Judge called “a galaxy of reasons, some existent in law, and many not”.

Miguna also sued a newspaper that had printed a police appeal asking anyone else who believed herself a victim of Miguna’s unwanted attentions to come forward.  

Miguna sought Canadian $17.5 million in damages, but he lost just about all, if not all, the more than 20 cases he launched, ending up having to pay out tens of thousands of Canadian dollars.

Dismissing some of the cases, the Appeals Judge referred to Miguna’s “allegations based on assumptions and speculation” and said that Miguna could not “merely plead allegations that he believes may or may not be true”.

Miguna was apparently operating in the realms of fantasy and speculative allegations even then. It seems to be a pattern.

But now an opportunity to escape all that had presented itself. Miguna must have eyed his new acquaintance with Raila Odinga as the chance of a lifetime.

Throughout the following year, while still in Canada, Miguna tried to cement this plan by bombarding Raila with unsolicited and unwanted advice.

This is what Miguna now describes as having been a political strategist for Raila during the period. Knowing Raila, I doubt he ever even read those communications, or had time to give them any of his attention.

Raila Odinga is a consummate political strategist. Why on earth would he need to depend on a man who had been out of the country for 20 years, having run away at the first hint of trouble in 1987 – at the same time as Raila Odinga and many others were undergoing the torturous conditions and life-threatening privations of Kamiti, Shimo la Tewa, Manyani and Naivasha maximum security prisons?

Raila suffered many years of three separate detention periods and went into exile when a fourth threatened – but he stayed away only a few months, and then he returned to continue the fight for change. Unlike Raila, Miguna stayed away living a very comfortable life in a western nation for two decades, leaving it to genuinely committed others to fight the real battle for reforms.

During 2006-2007, Miguna was also trying to raise his public profile prior to his return to Kenya by bombarding newspapers with his articles. Many people became dismissive. Miguna was not back in the country yet but he was already becoming a figure of fun, not taken seriously. It is sad, for an intelligent man. But he brought it on himself.

Eventually, Miguna returned to Kenya, in September 2007, just in time for parliamentary nominations. He tried his luck in Nyando and failed miserably at the ODM nomination stage, gaining miserably few votes.

Characteristically, he lost no time in instituting a court case.

Homosexuality in Kenya: Not a welcomed option

Prof Makau Mutua’s piece titled “Rights body has finally stood up for gays and lesbians” (SN, May 13) bashes valid objections to homosexuality and lesbianism, and attempts to recast these practices as human rights protected under the Bill of Rights, though they remain illegal under the Penal Code.

Fixated with Western aphorisms such as “democracy”, “human rights”, “tolerance”, and “openness”, an increasing number of African intellectuals under the aegis of “civil society” have gleefully joined a well-choreographed global campaign by Western governments to propagate homosexuality as part of the “human rights” rubric and population control agenda.

Aware that within most cultures few openly embrace or accept sexual deviance (including homosexuality and lesbianism), the powers behind this diabolical agenda have relentlessly sought to rebrand them, to make them more readily acceptable, hence the donning of sodomy and lesbianism with the ethereal-sounding and legally-protected garb of “human rights”.

As part of this sexual-cultural putsch, the traditional and widely-used descriptions of same-sex relations such as “sodomy” and “homosexuality” have been replaced by more innocuous-sounding, suave, (even anagogical and acceptable) ones such as “gay”,”LGBT”, or “men having sex with men”.

This rebranding has been marketed from a variety of springboards, ranging from court decisions to social organisations, in order to accord rebranded homosexuality wider acceptance, legality, and authenticity, while at the same time stripping it of the stinging stigma.

Zealous acolytes have pilloried anyone standing in their path and perceived to be resisting this wave, branding them as “homophobes” and “conservatives” whose cultural, religious, or moral reservations towards, and against homosexuality are dismissed as having atrophied into irrelevance.

More fundamentally, foreign aid is increasingly being tied to acceptance of homosexuality.

As a conjugant in the trend, particularly in Western Europe, stretching the scope and application of “hate speech” laws to punish anyone who frowns upon homosexual conduct has been the latest frontier in this rebranding, but which (to his credit) Prof Makau steered away from.

In the end, the phonetic gymnastics describing same-sex relations may paint a superficial transformation from a pejorative, stigmatised act to what is perceived as a politically correct expression of “liberty”; but this nevertheless leaves sodomy essentially unaltered in terms of what it has always been known in Africa – unacceptable.

This is not a putative, theoretical rejection of homosexuality across African cultures but a factual one. In exemplification, the Kikuyu of Kenya have consistently rejected homosexuality as “mugiro”; meaning an intolerable evil, and an abominable act that invites divine wrath.

This cultural rejection of homosexuality can neither amount to bigotry nor be classified as an expression of hate.

It simply is not within the moral sphere of the Kikuyu to embrace homosexuality, nor is it openly practised among them, with the notable exception of extremely rare cases.

When Prof Makau laments that he has been pilloried for defending homosexuality and then turns to brand as bigoted and hiding behind religion and culture to “spread” hate anyone who objects to the practice on religious or cultural grounds, isn’t he being hypocritical?

To argue that the Constitution does not outlaw homosexuality (even indirectly) is redactionist of Prof Makau, and is itself a very narrow interpretation of the document, since the Rule of Law espoused in Article 10(2)(a) presumes that Section 162-165 of the Penal Code are automatically embedded in the gamut of valid Kenyan laws.

Which African culture is this that Prof Makau speaks of that openly embraces homosexuality and offers a platform for one to readily and openly practise and celebrate such acts as part of its cultural values, and which Kenyans should belong to, so that they cease condemning homosexuality? None.

Which religion does he have in mind that promotes homosexuality? There is none.

The freedom of religion enshrined in Article 32(4) of the Constitution guarantees that if one’s religion outlaws homosexuality, then as part of that religion, one is entitled to an unequivocal expression of disaffiliation with homosexual practices, and to condemn an expression as “bigotry” is itself a breach of that right.

Rhetorically, does “openly speaking for gay rights” which he propounds as a solution to eliminate the stigma that attaches to homosexuality effectively function to reduce or eliminate the stigma?

A stinking fish by any other name will never cease to offend nasal senses even if the mouth speaks bountifully of an imaginary beautiful scent.

Mr. J. Harrison Kinyanjui

A CHILD'S VIEW OF THE BIBLE IN SUMMARY

A child was told to write a book report on the entire Bible.

This is amazing!!. I wonder how often we take for granted that children understand what we are teaching??? Through the eyes of a child here is the Children's Bible in a Nutshell.

In the beginning, which occurred near the start, there was nothing but God, darkness, and some gas. The Bible says, 'The Lord Thy God is one, but I think He must be a lot older than that. Anyway, God said, 'Give me a light!' and someone did. Then God made the world.

He split the Adam and made Eve. Adam and Eve were naked, but they weren't embarrassed because mirrors hadn't been invented yet. Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating one bad apple, so they were driven from the Garden of Eden. Not sure what they were driven in though, because they didn't have cars. Adam and Eve had a son, Cain, who hated his brother as long as he was Abel.

Pretty soon all of the early people died off, except for Methuselah, who lived to be like a million or something.

One of the next important people was Noah, who was a good guy, but one of his kids was kind of a Ham. Noah built a large boat and put his family and some animals on it. He asked some other people to join him, but they said they would have to take a rain check.

After Noah came Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob was more famous than His brother, Esau, because Esau sold Jacob his birthmark in exchange for some pot roast. Jacob had a son named Joseph who wore a really loud sports coat.

Another important Bible guy is Moses, whose real name was Charlton Heston. Moses led the Israel Lights out of Egypt and away from the evil Pharaoh after God sent ten plagues on Pharaoh's people. These plagues included frogs, mice, lice, bowels, and no cable. God fed the Israel Lights every day with manicotti. Then he gave them His Top Ten Commandments. These include don't lie , cheat, smoke, dance, or covet your neighbor's stuff. Oh, yeah, I just thought of one more:.


Humor thy father and thy mother.

One of Moses' best helpers was Joshua who was the first Bible guy to use spies. Joshua fought the battle of Geritol and the fence fell over on the town. After Joshua came David. He got to be king by killing a giant with a slingshot. He had a son named Solomon who had about 300 wives and 500 porcupines. My teacher says he was wise, but that doesn't sound very wise to me.

After Solomon there were a bunch of major league prophets.

One of these was Jonah, who was swallowed by a big whale and then barfed upon the shore. There were also some minor league prophets, but I guess we don't have to worry about them.

After the Old Testament came the New Testament. Jesus is the star of The New Testament. He was born in Bethlehem in a barn. I wish I had been born in a barn, too, because my mom is always saying to me, 'Close the door! Were you born in a barn?' It would be nice to say, 'As a matter of fact, I was.'

During His life, Jesus had many arguments with sinners like the Pharisees and the Republicans. Jesus also had twelve opossums. The worst one was Judas Asparagus. Judas was so evil that they named a terrible vegetable after him.

Jesus was a great man. He healed many leopards and even preached to some Germans on the Mount. But the Republicans and all those guys put Jesus on trial before Pontius the Pilot. Pilot didn't stick up for Jesus. He just washed his hands instead.

Any way's, Jesus died for our sins, then came back to life again.

He went up to Heaven but will be back at the end of the Aluminum. His return is foretold in the book of Revolution.

The end, awe men. via

 

 Kraziest kenyans

KCSE 2012: What We Can learn

Its lovely watching the announcement of KCSE results. The kerfuffle, brouhaha, spirited intros and lovely speeches. I loved watching Mr. Etyang and the choir. He was my music teacher in High school. Professor Ongeri read results upto hundredth positions. I may never know the reason for such chutzpah. Perhaps its the idea that this might be his last public announcer in such ministerial capacity.

Maranda High school has topped. Wow!

Both Alliances, Starehe Boys' then Mang'ú. Who leveled the playing field? 11.8 points by a school. This is dexterity and commendation should be in order.  St. Peters' Seminary has listed the top candidate, Job Nalianya.

I faced this day years ago; the day of redemption. I remember that day, anxious and apprehensive, my heart yielding to panic before announcement of results. There was an inkling of my expected grade(s), but needed an official confirmation, a stamp that would decide the path i would take in future.

Before joining the top-rated high school in the country, i knew i would end up being a neurosurgeon, thanks to my infatuation with Ben Carson's paperbacks. Four years later it obvious I was good in literature, theater plays and spoken word. I had no love for Chemistry and basic Biology was a bore.

I will graduate with Bsc. Actuarial Science, finish CFA and CSIA papers, and rot in the realm of securities. The country has lost a brilliant movie director, script writer and actor. Our parents want their children in blue-chip companies; not rolling tapes for entertainment purposes. No one wants to understand that informal sector is oiling the bulk of the country's economy. It is unfortunate.

That is why many are pursuing courses irrelevant with their liking. The society has been forced to embrace worthiness of white-and-blue-collar jobs, disregarding the very cradle for employment; doing what you best can to the benefit of the society. If what you are doing fails your desires, it is obvious very little effort is put for the desired result.

Students are oiling their brains day and night, swotting to weird extremities, their hearts beating achingly to one desire; that of getting a degree in various institutions of higher learning. That is why constituent colleges have sprung up, with roof-top institutions peddling degrees to eager just-out-of-fourth-form junkies, irrespective of their dull grades. And its also reason why weird and ludicrous courses have jammed the lecture rooms.

Not everyone is celebrating today. There are those who have disappointed their parents, and the society. Those parents that stared directly into their eyes just before KCSE exams, and reminded them how hard they have worked to ensure their smooth sail in high school. The moment they will register Catty or Doggy results, they will feel a pang of guilt. The nearest tall tree and a rope will be the absolution to the guilt. Case Study: Suicides due to recently announced KCPE results.

Parents have forgotten diploma and certificate courses. They want that pride; my daughter is doing law in University of Something, my son is pursuing medicine and so on. Everybody is full of bull nowdays. Great personalities did not tap their greatness from grades, but by conviction of what they knew of themselves. Those who were not eligible for University and had passion for, let's say Engineering, commenced with certificate from local polytechnics, then a dip from a college, post dip before securing a place in varsity for their degrees.Do not fake your disability to achieve on your full potential on drab grades, that is pathetic reasoning.

Those who have A's and parents will never allow them to take arts, i feel you. Dont despair though, do what you can do with the course you will pursue, but dont let your dream die. Join a chorister, do a musical, enroll for dancing classes and perhaps, perhaps your parents will value your desires.

Dont join varsity for a hogwash course so that everybody in the village will respect you. Join Maseno for Soil Science, or Moi for Ethics and after graduating, the respect will dissipate. If you are not good in books, and you appreciate you weakness, be Oliech, be Mariga, be Karume. Earn em dollars in other ways, play football, make tracks your home, play with numbers in streets, marry a microphone and be an MC. Be anything you want to be, let no goals be impended by results.

And perhaps we can all be termed as winners!

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