Mr. Miguna Miguna
Story by Mdadisi Mmoja
Mr.Miguna Miguna, the abrasive advisor to Prime Minister Raila Odinga on coalition affairs, was last week kicked out of office in the most ignominiously manner you would ever imagine. Yet, from the outpouring reactions, it appears that Miguna’s exit was long overdue as it was celebrated by many people, some of them right in the inner circle of the Prime Minister’s office.
He was hounded out after his alleged attack on the Chairman of the Interim Independent Electoral Commission Isaack Hassan. But the issues he raised and many other people surrounding on the happenings at the IIEC remain as tardy as ever. Whether Miguna should go or not is a moot point at this juncture. In any case, the PM may have acted after his political critics capitalised on the issue to portray him as a person willing to stop at nothing until he achieves his stated aim of leading this country.
Yet, under the veneer that is the Miguna saga lies a serious political problem that if not addressed could snowball into a crisis in the same proportion as the 2008 post election crisis. It may be that anti- Miguna forces have won round one of this unfolding political panorama. Through their clever, but dirty, schemes of misinformation they have managed to paint Miguna, and to an extent Raila, as a persons who are planning to win next year’s election by manipulating the electoral commission through the choice of pliant commissioners in the yet to be established Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission.
But the reality on the ground is totally different. The runway tribalism and nepotism at the IIEC will not go away simply because Miguna is out and that Isaack Hassan has managed to use his networks to manipulate forces around the PM and fool the world that he is the best electoral chairman the country will ever have.Miguna was a victim of, not his views, but powerful forces with an eye to the next general election and a well-organised Somali elite, which are determined to ensure that Hassan is retained as the chairman of the anticipated Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, which will oversee the next election.
There are reports that just before Miguna was sacked, the sly and self effacing IIEC chairman met the PM in a meeting organised by the PS in the PM office Mohammed Isahakia.Like Hassan, Isahakia is a Somali. It is always believed that whenever the interests of any Somali clash with that of other people, Somali will always be Somalis.For Isahakia, the exit of Miguna was godsend. Ever since the National Accord, the turf wars in the PM’s office have been like a daily occurrence. Those in the know will tell you that Isahakia and Miguna never saw eye to eye. Isahakia is part of that axis that wants to push for reforms in a piecemeal manner, which has forced the PM to reshuffle and re-organise the office. Others in the group are Caroli Omondi, Jakoyo Midiwo and Pollyns Ochieng, the MP for Nyando, whence Miguna hails from.
To this group, closeness to the PM is a ticket to loot and run extortion rings that gather some benefits, thanks to the nearness to the power.This common loathing of Miguna has been planted on the fertile soil that is corruption, where the Isahakias and Carolis see their offices as routes to personal aggrandizement.
Oftentimes, Miguna has acted as a check to this axis, coupled with his abrasive style where he pulls no punches whenever he comments on public issues.On the face of it, Miguna’s greatest problem would appear to be so much in ideals where he could not put a full stop on boundary of his views.
With a history of being a Kanu man, Hassan cannot be ignored. He is a fine, and famous backroom schemer schooled in the art of deception and has the knack of playing victim hood with the precision of a surgeon. This is the man who was propelled to the top by the famous Kiruki Commission that investigated the infamous Artur Brothers and many people remember his zeal to shield the first family from culpability, even though the evidence adduced before it proved just that.It is not true when he suggests that he has no relative in the commission. Investigations reveal that the entire process of appointing election coordinators was fraudulent, no so less in north eastern province. It may be easy for him to say that he doesn’t have a relative in the commission. But as a chair his culpability is institutional. Accusations against other commissioners end right into his court.
If Davis Chirchir has employed his relatives at the Commission, or rather if he has influenced the appointment of his relatives as regional coordinators in the rift valley, then Hassan must take full responsibility. As the chair, the ultimate responsibility for maladministration at the commission will rest with him when time for accountability finally comes.
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