EXCERPT 2: TREASON; MIGUNA MIGUNA
What is wrong with MUDAVADI? Hehehe the dude is an arrogant coward?
…….The People’s Assembly rally in Homa Bay on January 27 was electric in more ways than one. To begin with, all the NASA principles attended, all dressed up in their NASA campaign uniforms. They danced to equally magnetic Ohangla tunes. The crowd was massive and celebratory. The mood and tone of the rally was triumphant. The leaders showed defiance. They had a façade of courage. They all dared the Jubilee regime to arrest them.
Then Raila gave a moving closing submission.
“Jothurwa,” he boomed in Luo, referring to the crowd as “Our people,” or “country men and women.”
“There is a lot of bitterness in the land,” he began, “On October 26, everyone boycotted Uhuru’s coronation ritual. You told the whole world that you have rejected Uhuru Kenyatta. Uhuru competed with Kenyatta, his father, and defeated Kenyatta. Only 3,500,000 people voted. He then inflated it to 7,500,000,” he went on. “We demanded that he must open the server but they refused. Our people, our experts, have entered the server from America. We entered the server, looked around and harvested the honey. We have seen how the IEBC altered the results…”
The crowd went wild, cheering, calling him Baba! Baba! Baba!
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“Haya! Haya! Haya!,” he continued, “They know we defeated them (sic). We were in Kakamega, they brought a bible. We were in Machakos, they brought a bible. We were in Mombasa, they brought a bible. In Kilifi, they brought a bible. And here…” The crowd went wild. “Here,” he repeated, “Where is the bible?” He posed.
“ is the last supper of Jesus and his disciples. This is the last meeting. From here, we are going to eat the bible — at Uhuru Park. They threatened that they would hang me if I take the oath. Treason. Treason. Treason,” he continued as the crowd kept applauding.
“I’m saying here in Homa Bay: I’m ready to die. From August 8, 2017, the police have killed many of our supporters because they were fighting for their rights. They have killed Baby Pendo, Master Mutinda and Moraa Nyarangi. If it is life imprisonment or death for treason, I’m ready!”
Another wave of thunderous applause drowned his voice.
“I’m ready to offer you and Kenya the ultimate sacrifice!” He thundered.
“Haya! Haya! Haya!” He went on. “On January 30th, I’ll be at Uhuru Park and I will take the Bible. Everyone should come to Nairobi. Come with white handkerchiefs. It will be the biggest peaceful demonstration this country has ever seen. Jothurwa, I’ve grabbed the leopard’s tail…”
After a prolonged applause, Raila narrated a Luo allegory about a girl called Waganda. “Once upon a time,” he said. “There was a long terrible drought that affected the entire land. There was no water. The people faced a calamity. Then the elders visited a magician who told them that for rain to fall, they had to sacrifice a human being; a young girl. After deliberating on this subject, the elders chose a girl called Waganda as the one they would sacrifice for the rains to fall. She was to enter the lake for the crocodiles to eat her. So, on the appointed day, Waganda left the village singing: Gogo, garuma, Gogo, garuma; Waganda dhi, garuma; Mondo nyang’ ochame, garuma…Mondo koth ochwe, garuma. Gogo, garuma….” (“Fishing net, garuma; Waganda is going, garuma; So that a crocodile can eat her, garuma… So that it may rain, garuma; Fishing net, garuma…”)
He went on and on as sections of the crowd broke down and cried — literally. Torrents of tears.
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When Raila was done, he declared that he would be Waganda. “I will sacrifice myself on January 30 if that is what is needed for us to be liberated!” It was a moving and powerful speech. His best, ever. And I exhaled. I felt, like thousands of others who watched Raila speak that day. I felt that we had crossed the red line and entered unchartered waters in our collective struggle for liberation. Or, maybe, that was just a feeling. A thought. An example of our collective irrational emotional exuberance.
Despite those strong and brave words, Raila returned from Homa Bay a conflicted man. When we met almost immediately after he had returned from Homa Bay, he told me that Kalonzo, Mudavadi and Wetang’ula were still not supporting the January 30 swearing in plans; that they would like to pursue dialogue. I was stunned.
Three weeks before the Homa Bay declaration — and before Muthama had peeled off — Raila had taken Orengo, Muthama, Wanjigi and I to Mudavadi’s Riverside secretariat and asked me to explain to Mudavadi, and convince him, of the strategic rationale for the swearing in. After I had reviewed the seven-page document with Mudavadi and responded to a barrage of questions, I said the following: “The struggle has reached a point where we must separate those who represent the status quo and those who would like to transform it; between conservatives and progressive radicals…”
“You see Miguna, I’m a conservative. I’m not a radical. I represent and value the status quo,” Mudavadi had said, cutting me off.
“How then do you expect to extract power from Uhuru and Ruto without a fight? Mheshimiwa, you gave Kenyans your word in Homa Bay, barely 24 hours ago. You gave your word to the country. You promised to go to Uhuru Park on January 30. You all stood there and swore to die for the country. You did so with your right hands over your hearts. This is the moment…” I tried to appeal to his base instincts.
He looked at me. Then at Raila. Then at Orengo and Wanjigi, before picking up a folder from his desk. “I’ve another meeting,” he said and left us in his office, never to return.[…]
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