Tuesday, January 8, 2013

The day RAILA ODINGA embarrassed MIGUNA MIGUNA at a high level meeting




Tuesday January 8, 2013 - Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s Coalition advisor Miguna Miguna was deeply embarrassed by the Premier while they were attending a very high level meeting in London, Britain.

In his book Peeling Back the Mask: A Quest for Justice in Kenya, Miguna describes the PM as a vague politician who was unable to explain his style of leadership if he forms the next government.

Here is the excerpt from the book-page 161

 I had prepared Raila for this encounter. Because I knew and understood Prof. Sand brook very well, I had given Raila a quick rundown on his academic areas of interest, summarised some of his books and explained Sandbrook’s interest in international development and political economy. As we enjoyed our sumptuous
lunch and discussed “Africa’s future”, I could see the veteran Africanists’ minds weighing and balancing up their main guest.

They would casually inquire what “an Odinga Administration” might look like and showed keen interest in Raila’s responses, which were disappointingly vague, general and lacked deep understanding of the political economy of Africa.

For instance, Sandbrook asked Raila what mechanisms he would put in place to address the issue of corruption in government, historical human rights abuses and the “regional” imbalance in development that could prove to be a powder-keg in the future.

Raila repeated his usual mantra about the ‘founding fathers’ dreams; the words of the national anthem and their purported inner import; with the inevitable comparison and contrast between Kenya and Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia before and after decolonisation.

He failed to articulate core ideological beliefs, nor did he explain the basic policy platform on which his administration’s actions would be based. Raila’s exposition on Kenyan and African political-economic affairs left me underwhelmed and engulfed with embarrassment; I surmised that he had not made an indelible impression on the eminent scholars at the dinner table.

Make the conclusion…. 
 
The Kenyan DAILY POST

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