I’m ready to face you in court, Miguna tells PM
By NATION REPORTER
Posted Saturday, July 14 2012 at 18:50
Posted Saturday, July 14 2012 at 18:50
A former adviser of Prime Minister Raila Odinga has dared anybody he has mentioned in his explosive book to challenge the contents.
Mr Miguna Miguna said he can take on the PM, his close aides Dr Mohamed Isahakia and Caroli Omondi, in any platform but would be much happier in court.
“I am daring the people who are accusing me of libel to come forward and present their case. I will not even hire a lawyer, I will represent myself,” he said.
Speaking on Saturday while launching his book, Peeling Back the Mask: A Quest for Justice in Kenya in Nairobi, he said the contents were only a tip of the iceberg.
“I have only disclosed the information partially. I still have more which I will unleash in future.”
Mr Miguna said no one can intimidate him over the book and if he is to fight back it can be “devastating”.
Mr Miguna said governance is a public property and not State secrecy as it was before and he felt that he owed Kenyans an answer after his stint in the PM’s office by publishing the book.
“If you feel that you have an issue with it, then you can write your own,” he said. He said the book was only a warning shot and that he has two dairies whose content he can still spill for the public to know what transpired during his time in the PM’s office.
“Even if you kill me, it is documented and safe,” Mr Miguna who was fired as an adviser of the PM said. He said after his sacking, innocent people in his office including messengers were also sacked.
“I had just employed a messenger who was one month old in his job, why should you fire such a person along with me?” Mr Miguna asked.
He said on the day he was sent packing, some of his belongings were locked in his office and it was among the most inhuman sackings he had seen.
Mr Miguna said most leaders who usually talk to him especially ambassadors had skipped the function because of fear.
“Fear is the enemy of progress. Fear does not control my life. If you send three people to kill me, they should rest assured that one will remain with me,” he said.
Mr Miguna said the PM should not claim that he is clean while he is surrounded by people who have a tainted past.
He cited Cabinet ministers Fred Gumo, Dalmas Otieno, William ole Ntimama and ODM chairman Henry Kosgey as persons associated with the oppressive single-party regime who are now the PM’s trusted friends.
Mr Miguna said Dr Isahakia and Mr Omondi have been implicated in a long list of scandals.
Mr Miguna said Dr Isahakia and Mr Omondi have been implicated in a long list of scandals.
“[One of them] surrendered some houses in Woodley Estate to the former KACC (Kenya and Anti-Corruption Commission) boss Patrick Lumumba recently, where on earth does such a thing happen and you are not prosecuted?” he asked.
Mr Miguna said ODM is guilty of the post-election violence in which hundreds of Kenyans lost their lives while others were displaced.
Mr Miguna said ODM is guilty of the post-election violence in which hundreds of Kenyans lost their lives while others were displaced.
He said anybody in the party should answer him back if he believes that ODM did not participate in killing of innocent Kenyans.
He said he can take some leaders before the International Criminal Court in the Hague to be charged with crimes against humanity.
“I can take every leader to The Hague, they should actually kiss my feet,” he said. He added: “They actually begged me for three hours to go back to office when they knew that I could spill the beans.”
Former MP Paul Muite said Mr Miguna’s book should not be viewed as an attack against certain individuals but freedom of expression as entrenched in the Constitution.
He said the PM should respond to the contents in Mr Miguna book instead of “fence sitting”. “He should respond to the details in the book for Kenyans to know the real Odinga,” Mr Muite said.
He said Mr Odinga should answer back the allegations and should even go to an extent of giving out a feedback word by word.
The former Kikuyu MP said in developed democracies like that of America, a candidate’s past is unearthed up to the nursery level which needs to be replicated with candidates vying for the coming General Election.
He said Mr Odinga should also explain to Kenyans why some tenants in Kibera declined to pay rent after the post-election violence.
“Tenants who used to pay rent in Kibera were kicked out and those who did not wish to pay landords took over the houses,” Mr Muite said.
He said the issue of not paying rent was also replicated in Mathare and Kasarani.
Mr Muite also wondered if Mr Odinga was a beneficiary of the 41 tribes against one formula while the constitution seeks to de-ethicise the country.
“Was he the beneficiary of the issues we are reading in the book? We also want to hear the unfinished business of the 1982 coup,” Mr Muite said.
Canadian High Commission to Kenya David Collins said the launching of the book by Mr Miguna showed that the country’s democracy was maturing.
He said Kenya had come a long way in embracing democracy and that if it could have been before, the event could not have taken place.
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