Nation Media Editors Need To Appreciate Diversity

Miguna has raised lots of furor of die-hard supporters of PM Raila Odinga with his book, “Peeling Off the Mask: A Quest for Justice”. The author had the book’s excerpts run by Daily Nation before the 14th July official launch. It raised lots of interest on why Nation Media Group saw it best to run the excerpts of the book while they reportedly flatly refused to run the excerpts of former Bahari MP, Joe Hamisi, book which revealed how Kalonzo Musyoka and Mwai Kibaki deeply betrayed Kenyans in the quest to rig elections just to lock out an ethnic group from power.

Miguna went ahead and launched his book with Lawyer Paul Muite and extreme tribal chauvinist being the main guest of honours after everyone including the Chief Justice decided not to officiate at the function. The book attracted all manner of criticism and the love and appreciation only came from a muted section of Kikuyus some of who picketed in the city on Thursday just to make a scene.

Miguna did interview in Kenyatta family owned Media Max group, Kikuyu controlled and biased Nation Media Group and Capital FM before flying out abruptly leaving Kenyans baying for his blood. What raised the eyebrow was the the editorial on Daily Nation on July 18th calling the loud displeasure at Miguna as “pointless.” According to Nation Media Group, it is right for Miguna Miguna to speak his mind but even with peaceful riots enshrined in the constitution, Nyando residents look like they are so full of primitive energy by demoing against the author. Now that is one instance where I would promptly circumcise the mind of the editor who authored the diatribe against Nyando residents.

Today Mutuma Mathiu, another editor at the same media group saw it best to portray how intolerant Nyando residents, led by area MP, were in demanding that Miguna be expelled from the community and proceed to burn his effigy. The same Mutuma Mathiu authrored lots of ethnic editorials and opinions on the same pre-2007 and 2008 elections. He only moderated himself when Kenya burnt and Annan appeared on the scene. Mutuma Mathiu even with Lucy Kibaki raiding NMG own TV station and taking all hostage and proceeding to slap a KTN photographer, never saw that as intolerance.

Mutuma Mathiu wants us to believe that DPP Keriako Tobiko really sent police after Miguna while I reported Miguna’s plan to flee the country almost 12 hours prior to that and the information of the impending flight I got from a key State House insider who also happen to be a close aide of Uhuru Kenyatta. The same aide confessed to me a day later, when reports emerged that Miguna might be suing me for distributing his book online, that Uhuru Kenyatta’s camp actively supported the booking of InterContinetal hotel for the launch of the book, flight of the 4 family members in the Miguna’s entourage to Canada and airtime accorded to him on Media Max.

What should come out as intolerance is elites from a single community believing that when they play propaganda over an individual and follow it up with what they want us to believe is an honest analysis, then we must not even mutter a kwe. Just as Miguna has a right to speak his mind, Kenyans right to peacefully picket and riot against any issue or person is something which only narrow minded ethnic bigots would want to deny them.

I recommend that such journalists and editors’ minds be immediately circumcised.