Comments on: Media Talk: Kenya one year on – have the wounds healed?

By: Kevin Kihara

Kevin Kihara — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 16:43:59 +0000

Yes it is the same Kariuki Kevin Kihara but my campaign for Kibaki is neither nor there on my opinion on Ms. Wrong’s book. Corruption in Kenya should proscecuted to the full extent of the law but through institutional mechanisms and not lone ranger approaches to its eradication.
Secondly, the ethno-national premise of the book is a bridge too far. Kikuyus as a community did not benefit from Anglo-Leasing neither did the Kalenjins benefit from Anglo-Leasing or the present maize scandals in the Ministry of Agriculture. This use of tribe as bogeyman is as shallow a argument as made for Kiraitu Murungi as it is with Michela Wrong. That the perpetuation of stereotypes, distortion of Kenyan history (ie her assertion that no freedom fighters were in first Kenyatta’s cabinet, forgetting detainees James Gichuru, Bildad Kaggia and Paul Ngei) make her book insincere in its argument.
Lets forego adhominem attacks. Lets focus on the facts. The book is poor.

By: Vicks Luckie

Vicks Luckie — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 20:39:19 +0000

And you wouldn’t be the same Kariuki Kevin Kihara that was campaigning to re-elect Kibaki during the last election would you?
From Washington DC?

By: Kevin Kihara

Kevin Kihara — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 17:55:52 +0000

Actually having read Ms. Wrong’s book cover to cover, its a long story about a non-event.
Amid the many attempts to spice up the story (murderers and rapists in every Nairobi suburb, Kibaki being the first African to graduate from LSE, forgetting Kenyatta and countless others)for the Western reader, is her abject failure to conclusively inform us if the Anglo-Leasing funds were ever released. There is no forensic trail offered only an attempt to widen the ethno-national premise of the novel to similarities in Eastern Europe for broader Occidental consumption.
Yes the scheme was designed, but other than the original pre-Kibaki Administration payments, no funds were lost in the scandal.
What will amaze Ms. Wrong at the conclusion of this exercise (yes that is what it is) is that the beyond the acknowledgement that John Gitongo is a man of strong conviction, Kenyans will scarcely join her to surround him as the totem pole to make him a cause celebre and primer for singular African honesty. Indeed, Kenyans are too busy working for a brighter future and are not by nature, prone to navel-gazing at the obvious.

By: JosephK

JosephK — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 13:20:57 +0000

And forgive mine, but where is she identified as an expert?

By: Michela Wrong

Michela Wrong — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 12:42:15 +0000

Well, that depends what you think qualifies you as as an “expert”. I’ve been writing about Kenya for 14 years, lived there for four years, have covered three Kenyan elections, and have spent the last three years researching the latest book. So, some knowledge has been gained along the way.

By: Tihada

Tihada — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 09:52:56 +0000

Forgive my cynicism, but does writing one book about the experiences of the only person in Kenya who seemed not to know how good Mr Kibaki is at fence-sitting, make Michela the new Kenya expert?

By: Judy

Judy — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 16:19:52 +0000

its not John Kithongo, its Githongo – G not K