‘Bring me down and kill the reform dream’
Prime Minister Raila Odinga. Photo/FILE
By EMEKA-MAYAKA GEKARA gmayaka@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Saturday, July 28 2012 at 23:30
Posted Saturday, July 28 2012 at 23:30
IN SUMMARY
- “Miguna’s book is sponsored by anti-reform forces, the NSIS and my opponents. It is just a campaign tool. That is why I have decided to give it the contempt card”
Prime Minister Raila Odinga has accused the national spy agency and his political rivals of using his former legal adviser in a bid to block him from ascending to the presidency.
Mr Odinga said the National Security Intelligence Service (NSIS) and his political competitors had encouraged and funded Mr Miguna Miguna to write a book aimed at damaging his character with the sole aim of stopping his campaign for State House.
In a candid interview with the Sunday Nation at his Karen home on Saturday, the first personal reaction to Mr Miguna’s book, Peeling Back the Mask, Mr Odinga described the allegations in the book as “cooked up”, saying the primary objective was to assassinate his character.
Mr Odinga, who spoke on a wide range of issues including the next election, the controversial award of a tender by the electoral commission, security and a court ruling unbanning the Mombasa Republican Council, said the corruption claims made by Mr Miguna in his book were unlikely to injure his presidential dream.
He said the book contained “no material evidence” linking him to any malfeasance except slander whose “shelf live is too short”.
“The book is sponsored by anti-reform forces, the NSIS and my opponents. It is just a campaign tool. That is why I have decided to give it the contempt card,” he said.
“It is the work of anti-reform forces. I have been associated with reforms and they know that if you target Raila, then you will kill the reform dream.”
Mr Odinga summed up his opponents’ strategy thus: “Hit at my character, pull me down and kill the reform dream.”
According to the Premier, who has been challenged by a number of leaders to comment on the graft allegations in the book, the real fear is full implementation of the new Constitution which contains radical reforms targeted to address devolution, equity and other grievances.
“They say if you want to kill a dog, give it a bad name. Even the Mau Mau freedom fighters were demonised by the British.”
The Miguna book accuses the PM of corruption and nepotism, among other things.
It paints the PM’s office as dysfunctional, a den of corruption and a place where underhand deals are rampant and generally condoned. Mr Odinga is also projected as an iron-fisted man who favours his relatives for State jobs.
The Premier narrated how after Mr Miguna’s sacking, media investor Patrick Quarcoo pleaded with him to reinstate his former adviser on “humanitarian grounds”.
“Quarcoo said that he (Mr Miguna) was in bad shape. That he needed to pay school fees. We agreed that he returns to work but he refused and started talking about writing a book. That’s when the forces exploited him.”
Mr Odinga said that by that time, Mr Miguna was surviving on income from writing a weekly column in The Star newspaper, but Mr Quarcoo told him the money had become too little.
“It is telling that a man who came crying that he could not pay his children’s school fees now can afford a holiday in Canada,” the PM said.
He said the book had presented an opportunity for some of his opponents to cleanse themselves. “You will notice that the language has changed about some of my opponents. Those who Miguna previously called demons are presented as angels in the book.”
He said the forces behind the book were “the same people saying ‘let us not look at the rear mirror’ ”.
“Because the rear mirror shows the dark era of political assassination, repression, ethnic discrimination, Golderberg, Nyayo House torture chambers, suppression of media and the assassinations of JM Kariuki and Pio Gama Pinto and Raila in Kamiti.”
The rear mirror reminds us of the mistakes of the past, he said.
Mr Odinga claimed that anti-reform forces were determined to paint him as an opportunist, an anarchist, corrupt, tribalist and anti-reform.
He accused Mr Miguna of waging a smear campaign and defended his Permanent Secretary, Mr Mohammed Isahakia, and Chief of Staff Caroli Omondi over allegations of involvement in the maize scandal, saying they had been cleared by investigations.
Commenting on other current issues, Mr Odinga asked the electoral commission to ensure transparency in the award of the biometric voter registration tender, saying continued wrangles risk tainting the team’s credibility and delaying polls.
“If voter registration is delayed, some people will be disenfranchised. The commission must solve this matter speedily and transparently considering the cost to the taxpayer.”
He laughed off claims that he was one of the leaders behind a plot to push elections to August next year. He blamed the plot on individuals who are ill-prepared for the polls. “They want to buy more time because their calculations are not adding up. I am ready for the elections.”
He stressed that he still prefers that the election be held in December.
“The March date does not make sense to me. It is a new math by the High Court but historically we have held our elections in December except in 1983,” he said in reference to the High Court decision placing the polls in March 2013.
The ODM leader dismissed as “propaganda” reports that he was reaching out to Eldoret North MP William Ruto who has decamped from the Orange party. “I have never contacted him over possible cooperation. He has launched his political party. We wish him well.”
Mr Odinga expressed confidence that he will put up a strong fight for the presidency, saying the departure of his former allies had not weakened him.
He defended himself against criticism that he had pushed Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi, Mr Ruto and former Tourism minister Najib Balala out of the Orange movement.
“People forget that the three were initially not with me. They were forced to join me after I defeated them in the September 2007 presidential primaries,” he said.
Mr Odinga said that Mr Mudavadi and Mr Ruto — both his former deputies in the party — decamped because they could not beat him in the primaries.
“Each of them has a burning ambition. Mr Mudavadi looked for an excuse to leave. I am not the problem. None of them is willing to face competition. Otherwise why are they not in the same party?”
The premier said that he had acquired new friends as he prepares his presidential campaign launch. He cited members of the ODM-Reloaded team who he described as energetic and youthful.
“A political party must be dynamic. You cannot depend on the same set of people all the time.”
Mr Odinga further said that he had settled on a different set of names for the Police Service Commission and forwarded them to President Kibaki for discussions.
“We want a competent commission that will oversee recruitment and promotions in the police service.”
he PM backed the High Court ruling lifting the ban on the Mombasa Republican Council.
However, he cautioned that the ruling should not be misunderstood as an approval of secession.
The government outlawed the Mombasa Republican Council (MRC) in 2010, describing it as a “criminal group”.
He said the court’s decision should open doors for dialogue and formal engagement with the government.
“They should renounce their demands for secession and dialogue with government. The court said that the MRC should apply for formal recognition and pursue their interests within the law,” he said.
The PM’s declaration was in conflict with a move by the office of the Attorney-General which has said it will appeal the High Court’s ruling that the ban was unconstitutional.
The major concern is that it could embolden the MRC’s push for secession.
The MRC accuses the government of marginalising the indigenous ethnic groups living in the Coast, which is also the centre of Kenya’s tourism.
Mr Odinga noted that the MRC grievances — including land distribution, unemployment, historical injustices, and authoritarianism— were not isolated.
“The same situation obtains in North Eastern Province, Turkana, Pokot, Samburu and Marakwet. There are even landless people in Central Province,” he said.
He reassured Coast residents that their grievances will be addressed by the new Constitution as well as a government development programme.
At the same time, the ODM leader gave strong indications about the imminent return to Cabinet of Tinderet MP and party chairman Henry Kosgey, who had been suspended from his Industrialisation docket over certain charges.
“He has been cleared by both the High Court and the International Criminal Court. He will go back (to Cabinet) any time.
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