Miguna’s fallout with Raila: the inside story
Miguna Miguna cuts the figure of an engaging eccentric — the kind who goes off on an unbeaten path or ruffles feathers with some good measure of acrimony and no apologies.
Those who have worked with him tell of a man who pulls no punches even when it’s not necessary. (VIDEO: This man Miguna)
During his time as Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s adviser on coalition affairs, Mr Miguna reportedly had up to four drivers and three secretaries attached to him. None succeeded in staying for long in that demanding environment.
In one instance, staff member decided to write to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights over their disagreements.
His former colleagues at the PM’s office say such cases and run-ins with senior government officials resulted in his suspension on grounds of “indiscipline”.
Mr Miguna has contested these claims and said that it was a power fight around the PM that got him ejected.
Correspondence seen by the Sunday Nation from the Administration Police to PS Mohammed Isahakia informs him that an officer attached to Mr Miguna had been withdrawn.
AP Commandant Kinuthia Mbugua said Mr Miguna had been mistreating him, and he [the officer] had asked to be withdrawn.
In a more dramatic case, Mr Miguna engaged in a public spat at an international meeting in Kampala called for member countries of the Rome Statute.
Then Attorney-General Amos Wako was heading the Kenyan delegation. In a widely publicised affair, Mr Miguna publicly contradicted Mr Wako at the conference and said ODM was not a party to the presentation that the AG was making.
A complaint filed by Kenyan diplomatic staff in Kampala with the ministry of Foreign Affairs accuses Mr Miguna of having had altercations with embassy staff over the vehicle he had been assigned and demanding changes in his hotel accommodation.
“The senior officer also lacked tact and could easily have attracted a fight had it not been for the extreme restraint by the AG and others,” said the July 2010 dispatch transmitted to the PM’s office by Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetang’ula after the incident.
The diplomatic dispatch also claims that Mr Miguna was nearly lynched by Ugandans in Kampala for his attitude towards the drivers allocated to the team.
A decision to allocate him a desolate office at the NHIF Building in Upper Hill instead of on the second floor of the refurbished former BP & Shell Building on Harambee Avenue where the PM and his staff had offices did not go down well either with Mr Miguna.
He would later explain his own version of the intrigues that led to his banishment to the NHIF office on his official website:
“I am also aware that I was not allocated office space at the PM’s Building last year due to mortal fear by the ‘power men’ from Nyanza that I was becoming too powerful and influential.
“These ‘power men’ believed that my ‘power’ and ‘influence’ were emanating from the proximity I had to the PM. They thought that discarding me at the NHIF Building in Upper Hill, would dilute the perceived power.”
“However, when they noticed that I continued to discharge my functions with complete commitment, diligence and distinction, the power men panicked and resorted to bestiality.
“But because they are both cowardly and dishonest, they could not face me with their fabrications. They waited until I was on leave to execute their nefarious plans.”
He named Lands minister James Orengo, Dr Oburu Oginga (the PM’s elder brother), Gem MP Jakoyo Midiwo (the PM’s cousin) and the chief of staff at the PM’s office, Mr Caroli Omondi.
It’s not only the powerful who have been affected by the eccentric ways of Mr Miguna.
A number of staff at the office of the PM who spoke to the Sunday Nation said he was difficult to work with and arrogant.
But Mr Miguna dismissed such characterisation in a recent interview with Citizen TV, saying some people mistook his being loud and confident and proud for arrogance.
As part of the ODM team of lawyers negotiating the content of the chapter on the Executive in the proposed constitution with their PNU counterparts, Mr Miguna was accused of causing a stalemate.
Reason? His opposite number, Prof Kivutha Kibwana, had invited the two teams to borrow certain provisions in the chapter on the Executive from over 50 time-tested and proven constitutions in various parts of the world, a suggestion that drew favour even with others in the ODM team like Mr Orengo, Mr Omondi, and law lecturer Mutakha Kangu. Mr Miguna would have none of it.
He demanded that Prof Kibwana physically table copies of all the constitutions he wanted the two teams to borrow from if his proposal was to be considered.
It was Mr Miguna’s way or nothing, and no amount of persuasion would sway him otherwise. The negotiations inevitably collapsed.
After he was suspended, Mr Miguna published articles, which still appear on his website, in which he painted the PM and his lieutenants in a bad light. (READ: Raila kicks out key aide)
When asked whether taking back his old job would not amount to contradicting his own principles, he said that he thought the best way to solve the problems he saw around Mr Odinga was to be close to him–until things fell apart, and he added more firepower to his battle against the PM.
The Sunday Nation has learnt that at least five meetings were held between Mr Odinga’s emissaries and Mr Miguna during the festive season with a view to resolving the rift, eventually culminating in a December 27 afternoon meeting between the two.
The meetings, reportedly brokered by a “mutual friend” described by Mr Miguna as a “highly respected corporate titan”, came in the wake of a string of scathing attacks directed at the PM by the then suspended adviser.
Mr Miguna confirmed that he had met the “mutual friend” on several occasions over the last couple of days to discuss the issue.
“I cannot speculate about the reason that made Raila to look for me. He sent a highly respected corporate titan in this country who is a mutual friend to both of us.
“We met with the corporate titan a number of times and he presented his case saying the Prime Minister would like to meet me,” Mr Miguna told Nation last week.
“The Prime Minister then called me inviting me for a meeting in his office. I refused and told him I could only meet him in a neutral place.
“I suggested Serena and he said no problem. Let it be known that I met Raila at my terms, not his terms. Even though they suspended me, I have also left office at my terms, not theirs.”
The Sunday Nation has since learnt that the said corporate titan is Mr Joe Ager, a long-time friend of Mr Odinga.
To Mr Omondi, the PM had acted out of sympathy for Mr Miguna after he lost a case he had lodged in court seeking to overturn his suspension, rendering him jobless.
“The PM wanted to offer Miguna a soft landing in the spirit of this festive season, given that he had lost his case in court and he was complaining that he had nothing to do,” Mr Omondi said.
Mr Miguna has dismissed the claims, saying that the PM and his handlers wanted to talk him out of publishing a potentially explosive book on his experiences in the PM’s office, besides also forcing him to withdraw all the cases he has lodged against the government. (READ: Defiant Miguna threatens to reveal all)
“What they are trying to do is to stop me from releasing my book and stopping the cases in court. I can assure that the book will be published, it is already with the printer and they can do nothing about it,” he said.
“That is why they wanted me to sign the local agreement because I’m sure if you read the fine print, there are things like one should not write a book while in government service and things like that. I will also not withdraw the cases in court, why should I?”
Mr Omondi in an interview with the Sunday Nation maintained that Mr Miguna had failed to withdraw all the cases he had lodged in court as agreed during the meeting with the PM.
“He was to sign a new contract with Mr (Abdul) Mwasera because the government cannot pay if you don’t have a written contract with it.
“His previous contract had expired. If he doesn’t want to sign a new contract, there is nothing we can do,” Mr Omondi said.
His superior
Mr Miguna denied Mr Omondi’s account, saying: “Caroli was not in the meeting so he cannot purport to know what we talked about. I am his superior, he is a secretary while I am an adviser to one of the principals, on the same job scale as Muthaura so there is no way I can talk to the Prime Minister through him.”
Mr Miguna maintained that he had never even discussed the issue of withdrawing the pending court cases during his meeting with the PM.
The letter reinstating Mr Miguna and signed by Mr Mwasera on behalf of the permanent secretary at the PM’s office, Isahakia, had accused him of indiscipline and warned him of severe disciplinary action if he failed to conduct himself well.
“Following your suspension, investigations were carried out relating to accusations levelled against you. The investigations have revealed breach of discipline on your part,” read the letter.
“However, it has been decided that you be reinstated into the service with immediate effect.
“This letter should equally serve as a warning to you to desist from any breach of discipline as such a breach would attract further severe disciplinary action.
“Upon your reinstatement, you are required to sign Local Agreement Form G.P106 (Revised) before resumption of duty.”
Media reports, however, quoted Mr Omondi as saying that Mr Miguna had been cleared by the investigations.
Mr Miguna maintained that the contents of the letter did not reflect the deliberations and agreement he entered into with the PM.
“Evidently, Mr Mwasera’s letter does not conform – in tone, form or content – with both the spirit and letter of the mutual agreement you and I entered into on Tuesday December 27, 2011.
Indeed, it is a deliberate and clear misrepresentation of our good faith agreement which was evidenced in writing and witnessed by the mutual friend,” Mr Miguna stated in his protest letter to the PM.
