Exclusive sources have told the Jackal News that a new book by former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s communication/political advisor Salim Lone is set to devastate the Kenyan political landscape, particularly Odinga’s presidential campaign that has already been dampened by Miguna Miguna’s flesh-tearing tome, Peeling Back the Mask: A Quest for Justice in Kenya.
The book, War And Peace In Kenya, will expose inside workings (and undoings) of the prime minister’s office and expose some intimate information that may hurt his presidential campaign ahead of the March 4, 2013 general elections, where Odinga, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi, lawmaker William Ruto and several other candidates who have thrown their hats into the race to replace the brilliant, but sometimes sleepy President Mwai Kibaki, who is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term.
“The book will reveal devastating information on Odinga and parliament,” a source explained, adding the current parliament, the first national assembly without an official opposition since 1992 when multiparty democracy was restored in Kenya, apparently making it the most corrupt in the history of post-independent Kenya.
Lone, the former publisher of the Viva magazine, is a dogged insider; a man who knows too much. As a spokesman for the late UN special representative Sergio Vieira de Mello, he survived when a car bomb ripped through the UN headquarters in Baghdad. His boss – then regarded as the best diplomat in the world – was killed, touching off a firestorm of protests across the world.
“The book will consider domestic issues in Kenya and their international dimension. The US
and UK were instrumental in resolving the violence which followed Kenya’s elections in 2007, and the international community’s interest in Kenya is growing ahead of the 2013 elections; the international community’s involvement is positive for Kenya,” according to Chatham House, a respected UK policy think tank.
“There is a need to go beyond violence and to ensure that the 2013 election will be fair. However, even with a fair election resulting in a democratically elected president, the task ahead will not be easy for the new regime. For fifty years, the same elite have been in power, controlling politics and wealth in the country. So how does change happen in a country if power has stayed on one side for fifty years? Kenya has not had – except for the violence in 2007 and 2008 – a violent trigger of change as in neighbouring countries. Despite the remaining worries, important progress was made under the previous administration, mostly on the economic front – even though poverty has increased in the last ten years,” it added
Sources told the Jackal News that Lone is no push-over. Even if he worked for Prime Minister Odinga, he is known across the world as a man who understands the dignity of the truth. “To maintain his reputation across the western capitals – which have fed him -- he will have to maintain the reputation of upholding the truth,” a source added.
Nobody knows exactly when the book will be published, but sources told the Jackal News that, in order to be of any relevance and help to Kenya, the book, must be released before the forthcoming elections.
Miguna’s book devastated Odinga, accusing him and his aides of massive corruption and other malfeasance. Odinga, deeply hurt, rejected the accusations and blamed the NCIC for being behind the book that excited the east African nation, transforming Miguna from an unknown quantity to a household name.
A Kenyan of Indian descent, whose great-grandfather was the first family member to migrate to East Africa from Jhelum, in what is now the Pakistani province of Punjab, Lone attended Duke of Gloucester (Now Jamhuri High) School in Nairobi and then Kenyon College in the United States during the 1960s. Returning to Kenya he began his career in publishing and journalism in the 1970s, but quickly came under pressure for articles critical of first Jomo Kenyatta's, and (after 1978), Daniel arap Moi's governments. Lone was founding editor of Viva, a women's magazine in Kenya.
When his editorials ran afoul of the (retired president Daniel arap) Moi government, he was jailed, stripped of his Kenyan citizenship, and exiled to the United States in 1982. He moved to New York City where he began working for the UN and editing the Africa Emergency Report. Promised a safe return home in 1986, Lone came to Nairobi but was again arrested by the Kenyan government stripped of his citizenship and charged with "acts or words which show disloyalty or disaffection to Kenya." Public and United Nations' pressure caused the Kenyan government to drop these charges.
Lone rose to become Director of the News and Media Division (1998–2003) during his 21-year career at United Nations headquarters. His last assignment was as spokesman for the UN mission in Iraq immediately after the US-led 2003 war and occupation. He was wounded the August 19, 2003 blast at the UN Baghdad headquarters which killed Vieira de Mello. After his retirement from the UN, Lone returned to Kenya, working as a columnist for the Daily Nation in Nairobi, and contributing to The Guardian and The Independent of London.
In late 2007, Lone became communications director for the Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) but in February 2008 it was reported that he briefly fled the country, fearing government repression. As of April 2008, he remained the spokesperson of the ODM. He subsequently resigned in September 2008 to spend time with his family. [Credits/ Chatham House, Wikipedia]
The book, War And Peace In Kenya, will expose inside workings (and undoings) of the prime minister’s office and expose some intimate information that may hurt his presidential campaign ahead of the March 4, 2013 general elections, where Odinga, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi, lawmaker William Ruto and several other candidates who have thrown their hats into the race to replace the brilliant, but sometimes sleepy President Mwai Kibaki, who is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term.
“The book will reveal devastating information on Odinga and parliament,” a source explained, adding the current parliament, the first national assembly without an official opposition since 1992 when multiparty democracy was restored in Kenya, apparently making it the most corrupt in the history of post-independent Kenya.
Lone, the former publisher of the Viva magazine, is a dogged insider; a man who knows too much. As a spokesman for the late UN special representative Sergio Vieira de Mello, he survived when a car bomb ripped through the UN headquarters in Baghdad. His boss – then regarded as the best diplomat in the world – was killed, touching off a firestorm of protests across the world.
“The book will consider domestic issues in Kenya and their international dimension. The US
and UK were instrumental in resolving the violence which followed Kenya’s elections in 2007, and the international community’s interest in Kenya is growing ahead of the 2013 elections; the international community’s involvement is positive for Kenya,” according to Chatham House, a respected UK policy think tank.
“There is a need to go beyond violence and to ensure that the 2013 election will be fair. However, even with a fair election resulting in a democratically elected president, the task ahead will not be easy for the new regime. For fifty years, the same elite have been in power, controlling politics and wealth in the country. So how does change happen in a country if power has stayed on one side for fifty years? Kenya has not had – except for the violence in 2007 and 2008 – a violent trigger of change as in neighbouring countries. Despite the remaining worries, important progress was made under the previous administration, mostly on the economic front – even though poverty has increased in the last ten years,” it added
Sources told the Jackal News that Lone is no push-over. Even if he worked for Prime Minister Odinga, he is known across the world as a man who understands the dignity of the truth. “To maintain his reputation across the western capitals – which have fed him -- he will have to maintain the reputation of upholding the truth,” a source added.
Nobody knows exactly when the book will be published, but sources told the Jackal News that, in order to be of any relevance and help to Kenya, the book, must be released before the forthcoming elections.
Miguna’s book devastated Odinga, accusing him and his aides of massive corruption and other malfeasance. Odinga, deeply hurt, rejected the accusations and blamed the NCIC for being behind the book that excited the east African nation, transforming Miguna from an unknown quantity to a household name.
A Kenyan of Indian descent, whose great-grandfather was the first family member to migrate to East Africa from Jhelum, in what is now the Pakistani province of Punjab, Lone attended Duke of Gloucester (Now Jamhuri High) School in Nairobi and then Kenyon College in the United States during the 1960s. Returning to Kenya he began his career in publishing and journalism in the 1970s, but quickly came under pressure for articles critical of first Jomo Kenyatta's, and (after 1978), Daniel arap Moi's governments. Lone was founding editor of Viva, a women's magazine in Kenya.
When his editorials ran afoul of the (retired president Daniel arap) Moi government, he was jailed, stripped of his Kenyan citizenship, and exiled to the United States in 1982. He moved to New York City where he began working for the UN and editing the Africa Emergency Report. Promised a safe return home in 1986, Lone came to Nairobi but was again arrested by the Kenyan government stripped of his citizenship and charged with "acts or words which show disloyalty or disaffection to Kenya." Public and United Nations' pressure caused the Kenyan government to drop these charges.
Lone rose to become Director of the News and Media Division (1998–2003) during his 21-year career at United Nations headquarters. His last assignment was as spokesman for the UN mission in Iraq immediately after the US-led 2003 war and occupation. He was wounded the August 19, 2003 blast at the UN Baghdad headquarters which killed Vieira de Mello. After his retirement from the UN, Lone returned to Kenya, working as a columnist for the Daily Nation in Nairobi, and contributing to The Guardian and The Independent of London.
In late 2007, Lone became communications director for the Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) but in February 2008 it was reported that he briefly fled the country, fearing government repression. As of April 2008, he remained the spokesperson of the ODM. He subsequently resigned in September 2008 to spend time with his family. [Credits/ Chatham House, Wikipedia]
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