Miguna's Criticism of Uhuru was Uncouth

Thursday, 24 March 2011 00:03 BY MOSES KURIA

Reading through Miguna Miguna’s opinion piece “Uhuru should focus on his defence at ICC”, (The Star, March 22, 2011), I was left wondering, yet again, why the Prime Minister insists on keeping this uncouth man at his service, and to make matters worse, on government payroll. There can only be one rational explanation- Miguna Miguna is actually a younger version of Raila Odinga. Every time Raila Odinga looks at Miguna Miguna, tears of emotion roll down his cheeks, thanking God for giving him a servant who is a very close living caricature of himself.
Soon Miguna will have to start all over again. He is almost exhausting the list of leaders to direct his uncivilized diatribes on. From Daniel arap Moi, PLO Lumumba, Kalonzo Musyoka, Mwai Kibaki, Mzalendo Kibunjia, William Ruto and even Luo Nyanza members of parliament, no one in the Southern Hemisphere seems safe from this uncultured man who exhibits all the hallmarks of a shaky upbringing.
Recently, at a function at the historic St Patrick’s Itein, students staged an embarrassing 'Mapambano' style mass action whereby they deemed it fit to ask the Prime Minister to intervene and have their school uniform changed. The Prime Minister acceded to their request, nonchalant of the views of parents and teachers. But that is beside the point. The main point is why the young kids felt comfortable to associate the Prime Minister with mass action resulting in devolution of Mapambano to our schools. With such ill-mannered advisers like Miguna Miguna in tow, this will cost the image and perception of the Prime Minister.
In his article, Miguna appears to suggest that if you went to St. Mary’s School or if you have never lacked anything in life you cannot be a good leader. That is least surprising. The KPU wing of ODM where Miguna belongs believes in a simple democratic ideology, “Let us all be equally poor”. Miguna and his masters are entrenched in this retrogressive ideology. History as they say, is a wonderful lesson to learn but a terrible bed to sleep in. The KPU wing of ODM not only sleeps in the bed of history but they also wet it. Sometimes I get the impression that they actually believe that Brezhnev is still the President of Soviet Union. Njiris School where Mr Miguna went for his A-levels is a very respectable school. I have no idea how Miguna went through there and ended up in controversy in Ontario, Canada. In any case, the test of leadership lies in a vision of a leader, not the fact that one went to St Mary’s or Njiris.
Miguna questions the connection between the Kapenguria Six and Uhuru Kenyatta’s persecution at the ICC. He refers to the ICC accusations that Uhuru has been involved in mass murder and displacement. This is akin to the colonialists referring to Jomo Kenyatta as a leader unto death and darkness. It is wonderful the way history repeats itself.
I chuckle when Miguna attempts to disassociate his bosses with the processes at the ICC. Recently, the MP for Emgwen Elijah Lagat startled me when he told me of a conversation between himself and the Jakoyo Midiwo, ODM Chief Whip and a cousin of the Prime Minister. According to Lagat, Midiwo told him that the only way the ICC could go easy on Hon William Ruto is for Ruto to go and apologize to the Prime Minister. Need I say more ?
It is does not take a rocket scientist to discern the unholy alliance of Mr Odinga, Mr Obama and Mr Ocampo in driving the ICC process. I wonder whether Obama realizes that he will be the sole loser in this triumvirate. Odinga hopes that the ICC process will give him an express ticket to State House. Ocampo he hopes that this will be his only remarkable item on his otherwise colourless CV where he has had a 100% failure rate during his tenure at the ICC. There is nothing to take home for Mr Obama in this ICC conspiracy which makes me wonder why he has allowed himself to be boxed into a win-win-lose bandwagon by Odinga and Ocampo. The American voters are waiting to have Mr Obama for breakfast come November 2012. His dalliance with tribal politics in the country of his father will only help to convince them that he is too busy with Kenyan politics to fix the American economy.
One would only hope that Miguna Miguna’s rantings will be somehow reconciled with the position taken by the MPs of the KPU wing in ODM where they reluctantly supported a local judicial mechanism. The European Union is also starting to see sense in a domestic process as we implement the new constitution and reform our judiciary.
For Miguna Miguna and his ilk, it would help if they took a tour of the countryside. Only then will they realize that they need to give up their citizenship of Utopia and apply to be citizens of the great Republic of Kenya.

Kuria is the spokesman of the Party for National Unity. The views expressed herein are his own and do not represent the PNU position.