By Joe Kiarie
If there is one thing that has been synonymous with Miguna Miguna, then it must be controversy. And it seems nothing much has changed if his much-hyped book that would be launched in Nairobi next Saturday is anything to go by.
In his explosive memoirs, Peeling Back the Mask, Miguna, a former advisor for coalition, constitutional and legal affairs to Prime Minister Raila Odinga has sensationally let loose some of his well-guarded secrets around his former boss.
The outspoken lawyer, who Raila suspended as his advisor on August 4 2011, explains why he turned down the Prime Minister’s subsequent offer of reinstatement and exposes what the publisher terms the Prime Minister’s lackluster leadership, questioning his progressive credentials, and claim he is an agent of?change.
In excerpts revealed by the publisher, Gilgamesh Publishing Limited, Miguna theatrically reveals how Raila wept one afternoon after a meeting with President Kibaki at the apex of the friction sparked by the pronouncement of the 2007 disputed presidential results.
Heart wrenching scene
“Eeeeh ... eehhhh ... eiiii... Please save me from Kibaki! Eeeeeh... eiiiii ... Please don’t let me go back to that man ... I don’t want to go back to Kibaki! Please save me from Kibaki!” Raila cried, tears ?owing freely down his cheeks. He was shaking uncontrollably,” the publisher, notes in one of the excerpts.
“It was about 3:30pm on April 6, 2008. Everyone in the room was stunned. They had never seen Raila cry before. We looked at each other, unable to move. No one was prepared for this heart-wrenching scene. I guess we had assumed that Raila was ‘superhuman’,” the excerpt continues, noting that the ODM supremo was not just crying, but also sweating.
According to excerpts from the publisher, Raila had just returned from a face-to-face meeting with Kibaki over the formation of the Coalition Government following the signing of the National Accord and Reconciliation agreement on in February 2008.
The excerpts note Prime Minister attended numerous meetings and most had ended in stalemate or “Raila’s capitulation”. They also narrate the events that characterised the night of the disputed 2007 General Election results.
Miguna recounts his personal exchanges with then Electoral Commission of Kenya Chairman Samuel Kivuitu when he stormed forward in protest as the tension between ODM and PNU supporters exploded.
