Police whisk Miguna out of hotel as youths disrupt his book promotion

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Jacob Owiti | NATION Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s adviser Miguna Miguna puts on a brave face after an attempt to market his political memoirs at a Kisumu hotel aborted on August 23, 2012.   Nation Media Group

By JUSTUS WANGA jwanga@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Thursday, August 23  2012 at  23:00

IN SUMMARY

• Raila’s former adviser on coalition affairs cries foul as officers ask him to leave instead of ejecting the mobs from the venue
• Corruption: Mr Miguna claims in his controversial book that the Prime Minister’s office is a den of corruption. He claims that senior staff in the Nairobi office engage in questionable deals to enrich themselves.
• Nepotism: The author claims that the Prime Minister has been using his position to appoint his relatives and friends to senior positions in government.
• Post-poll chaos: He claims that Mr Odinga and ODM had a hand in the 2007/08 post-election violence

Police whisked away author Miguna Miguna through the back gate of a Kisumu hotel on Thursday where he was on a book marketing campaign as a mob bayed for his blood.

The attendants of the book promotion were annoyed when the former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s aide claimed they had been reduced to “voting robots” by the ODM leader.

“It is sad that as a people, you have been made voting machines without subjecting your leaders to the requisite scrutiny to know what they can do for you,” he had told the gathering.

He claimed that Mr Odinga did not mean well for the people of Nyanza.

The audience had struggled to listen through his first 15 minutes of the fiery address that largely discredited the ODM leader but it was the two allegations that were the final straw that broke the camel’s back. Soon afterwards, hell broke loose.

Kisumu police boss Musa Kongoli and his deputy Muthuri Mwongera had a rough time calming the chair-wielding youths, who were surging towards the dais to attack the author of the political memoirs, Peeling Back the Mask: A Quest for Justice in Kenya.

The officers shielded Mr Miguna and rushed him into a different room before helping him into a police patrol car outside the hotel.

Anti-riot police had also assembled outside the hotel to ensure that the crowd, which was building up at the main entrance, did not cause chaos. Angry youths demanded that Mr Miguna comes out.

It took the persuasion of Mr Kongoli before Mr Miguna agreed to leave. According to the author, the rowdy youths were the ones who were supposed to be ejected by police for creating disharmony at his event and not him.

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“Why do you want me to leave and clearly am the one being targeted? How about getting the few elements out to spoil the function out of the room?” he sought to know.

“You accuse the Prime Minister of corruption and nepotism. Did you apply for the job you were doing at his office if you were not just hand-picked?” asked an irate youth.

The youths accused Mr Miguna of working for Mr Odinga’s political opponents to block him from succeeding President Kibaki next year.

Their charge was largely informed by the presence of Mr Onyango Oloo, who is the secretary-general of Mr Uhuru Kenyatta’s party, The National Alliance.

“Today we have confirmed that you work for TNA because how else would you explain Onyango Oloo’s attendance? We have no problem if they are willing to give you money but let the deal not revolve around tarnishing other people’s reputation,” shouted another irritated attendant.

Before the altercation, Mr Miguna had accused Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko of playing to the gallery by ordering him to record a statement over his ICC claims.

“I heard that Tobiko was looking for me when I was away. Where is he now that am back? If his intention was to create fear in me, then he is mistaken,” Raila’s former aide said.

He said that despite the hostile reception, he would not abandon the quest to popularise his book.

“Miguna Miguna cannot be muzzled. If anything, such scenes only serve to energise my resolve,” he promised.