Who Will Now Tell The Prime Minister When He Is Naked?

Monday, 08 August 2011 15:52 BY GODWIN R. MURUNGA

When any leader is naked, there ought to be someone with the guts to tell him or her. In a country where people with such guts are in short supply, the presence of Miguna Miguna in the team close to Prime Minister Raila Odinga was a blessing. It is sad that because of his candid approach to issues of national importance, Miguna Miguna has been suspended. This represents a triumph of impunity and is a sad moment for Kenya.
Several people are already celebrating the suspension of Miguna Miguna. The ODM cheerleader per excellence Chief Whip Jakoyo Midiwo was quick to list reasons why Miguna's suspension was ‘long overdue.’ According to Midiwo, Miguna is guilty of suing the Attorney General of a government he serves in; of abusing fellow civil servants and of criticising the Speaker of the National Assembly in the media yet Miguna is himself junior to the Speaker in the government hierarchy.
Other than the fact that Miguna Miguna is junior to many of the people he has criticised in the bureaucracy, none of the reasons cited by Midiwo is illegal. Seniority in any bureaucracy is no insulation to public scrutiny and criticism. There is nothing that prevents Miguna from exercising his right to criticise public officers in their performance of duties. Those who accuse him of writing articles that gave the PM a ’bad name’ conveniently ignore the fact that all of Miguna Miguna’s columns have ended with the caveat that the views expressed are his own. Why everyone refuses to see this caveat and continue to associate Miguna Miguna’s view to the PM is anyone’s guess.
It is reported that the letter suspending Miguna accused him of ‘gross misconduct.’ In fact, the real reason behind his suspension is populist in every sense as it is less about Miguna's alleged misconduct and more about shielding Raila from the perception that he may in any way be seeking to influence the composition of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.
There is every reason for the PM to seek to distance himself from the debate around IIEC/IEBC. In the PM's interest, Miguna should have been advised to treat this issue with greater care and caution. Yet, when the interests of the PM clash with the interests of Kenyans, the interests of Kenyans must prevail.
I assume that it was on this basis that Miguna Miguna wrote the piece criticising the IIEC. In the article, published in the Star of July 21^st 2011, he cited the chair of IIEC of hogging the limelight and claiming all credit for the successes of the IIEC. He accused Isaack for ‘logical incoherent, confusion and uncertainty.’ Miguna further questioned Isaack’s performance at CKRC and the Kiruki Commission which he found wanting and patchy especially because Isaack often aligned with reactionary forces eager to protect the status quo. 
It should be left to Kenyans to decide whether Miguna's views on Isaack are right or wrong. On the charges of affiliating with reactionary forces, no one has presented any logical rebuttal, not even Isaack himself or from the Communications and Corporate Affairs Manager at IIEC, Tabitha Mutemi. Of course, the IIEC Commissioners and Secretariat have come down strongly in support of their  chairman. This is fine except that their unity of purpose should not be geared simply towards guaranteeing an easy sail from IIEC to IEBC.
The piece in the Star of August 2^nd 2011 that accused the IIEC of tribalism and nepotism raised fundamental question of integrity. In succumbing to populism, the PM office did not help in any way and has actually contributed to stifling the spirit of open contribution to national debate.
The allegations in the letter that accused the IIEC of tribalism, nepotism and corruption require a candid response. It does not matter to me that these letters are surfacing when the transition from IIEC to IEBC is starting. Indeed, there is no better time for these allegations to surface. If they are true, they should destroy the careers of officers who are responsible. Our new constitution anticipates that such public scrutiny must take place.
As for the PM, he must know that he needs people with integrity around him. Court poets and cheerleaders will not do. He needs people with knowledge who will not only speak candidly to him but will also stand the test of patriotism and be incorruptible. The PM also needs to allay fear that he will replace the Mt. Kenya mafia with a Lake Victoria version. It is worrying that his office is not as Kenyan as we expect it to be.
Godwin R. Murunga is a lecturer at the Kenyatta University.