It is rapidly emerging that the new biography released by General Lazarus Sumbeiywo last week (written by East African Standard journalist Waithaka Waihenya) has many inconsistencies that contradict earlier reports on some very important events in Kenya’s history. Secondly a lot of the information that is accurate in the book is a threat to the country’s national security. More so at a time when the situation in many neighboring countries is so fluid and uncertain.
The account of the coup and the President’s confidence does not tally with other eyewitness reports including this blogger’s (see my other post on this). At a time when the nation is trying to fill in the blanks on some very important and crucial events in her history, accuracy is very important and this is not really the time to do Andrew-Morton-like biographies designed to clean up images of past administrations. (Andrew Morton was Princess Diana’s biographer who also wrote an infamous biography on former president Moi that claimed foreign minister Ouko’s assassination was masterminded by fellow-Luo and powerful PS in the office of the president Hezekiah Oyugi for reasons to do with Luo politics.)
What seemed even stranger to me but could have easily been a coincidence was the Lifestyle feature in the Sunday Nation (this last Sunday) that highlighted the Christian faith in the general. As if to put a final stamp of approval on the total “gospel truth” in his book. Many Kenyans believe that everything they read in the Daily Nation is the truth making it a spin doctor’s and propaganda perpetrator’s dream come true.
Above anything else the book paints a picture of former President Moi that is too glowing and unrealistic. For instance the book does not discuss the former President’s role in the deterioration of standards in the military (which the general corrected. More on that later in this post), through appointments that seemed to favor certain communities while sidelining others. Why for instance was General Opande overlooked for many senior posts in the military that he so richly deserved? Was it because he hails from the DhoLuo tribe and these were the main perpetrators of the failed 1982 coup? Was Major Ikenye eased out by being sent for further training abroad? Ever heard of a valued ADC being sent for further training, never to return to his post?
The rules are that you don’t attempt this kind of biography unless you are going to tell it all as it is. This is a tall order for any high ranking military person.
It is understandable that this is a book that must have gone through numerous revisions that would have necessitated the omission of certain details for security reasons. But even then there is too much that still got through that now leaves the country vulnerable to its’ enemies and would-be enemies.
For example, the general talks at length about the lack of discipline in the military as a result of political patronage. He then goes on to describe his valiant cleaning up exercise. The danger here is that not much has changed in the way the political establishment is run making a repeat of the same situation likely. An enemy of the country with this information will have a much easier job of gauging the situation and then doing the necessary snooping around to find out when history will repeat itself and using this information against the interests of the nation.
But the information I really bulked at was where the general describes the change of strategy in the military which necessitated training by the British on how to approach warfare by focusing in on the weaknesses of the enemy! What? Do we want all and sundry to know our military thinking and strategy?
There are many other examples of dangerous information in the book.
If I were to make the call, this is a biography that was published at least 5 years too early.
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Tom Mboya Was A Victim Of Security of The State
Kumekucha,
ReplyDeletewhat you are saying is true (only)if we have external enemies (that we can do anything militarily about). We all know we really don't.
You never know my dear. Even in real life, you do not wait until your enemy is at the door before preparing your defence.
ReplyDeleteIt is alo a fact of life that those closest to you and your perceived friends will suddenly turn into enemies and attack when they see the opportunity.
Inspite of our many problems, Kenya remains a growing economic super power in the region. Do you think everybody is happy and delighted about that?
my dear chris i honestly think u r being naive about kenya's so called military secrets. In this day and age of the internet only a country with no military capabilty e.g. Tonga, ice-land, Acension Islands etc can hope to have "secrests" why dont u do this google Kenyan navy and see how many hits you come up with. I can have a fairly accurate view of kenyas military condition and capabilites within one hour on the internet. What Sumbeiyo is telling us is nthing new. As for british soldiers training us... that is common practice the world over. Kenyan military personnel train officers from all over the world at a military college in karen called the National Defence College that is senior military officers frm as far as China, USA and yes England, SA etc. Why u might ask us being poor and third world, coz believe it or not we are some of the best peacekeepers in the world our officer class is ranked one of the best if not the best in Africa. So there you have it get ur head out of the paranoid 70's and 80's and into present day.
ReplyDeletePK (nairobi)
Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment, PK.
ReplyDeleteI am afraid I do not agree with you. It is true that the issue of military hardware is info that you can get on the net. In fact this info was widely available long before the net through mags like Jane's Defence Weekly.
However even with hardware and new technology the weakest link in warfare remains the human resources. The general's book I am afraid exposes too much of the sort of info you will not find anywhere else.
You will be aware of recent developments in Somalia. As you know Somalia has always been a threat to Kenya (in the 60s Kenyatta appealed for British military help to counter this threat) and although they do not have a stable government in place yet, most of the guns that kill and maime Kenyans can be traced back to that crazy country.
Making it so easy for them to access the sensitive info in the general's book is not a good idea. Notice I said that the book was published 5 years too early. I still hold onto my position.
But I still encourage you to keep making posts here, especially critical ones. That's the only way to keep me in the 21st centuiry and on my toes... and hopefully away from the 70s and 80s thinking. LOL
Ya i get what ur saying. But in an emerging democracy the transparency of institutions is paramount. Yes even security institutions. The moral, training, rediness of our military forces can be easily determined by any layman with a little time to spend on the internet. have u read the bolgs posted by british soldiers who have been stationed in Kenya??? and oh yes also kenyan soldiers???. If i can know these things this easily can u imagine an experianced and trained intelligence operative. Wht i am saying is this Gen. Sumbeiyo and co should go on shedding light to those institutions that have always been shrouded in secrecy such as the military. Right now in Israel the goverment has been brought to account about the bungled war with Hezbullah how??? by the glaring inadequacies that were brought to light by ordinary Israeli soldiers and officers. Kenya recently signed what is suspected to be another Anglo-Leasing type of contract worth 12 billion to supply the army with state of the art communications. That money would have been enough to bring our airforce back into fighting stength. By the way we technically no longer have an airforce or at least one that is capapable of defending Nairobi. Secuirity questions have to be brought to the public domain so that the goverment can account for its close to 300 million dollars anual defence budget. With that sort of money we should be in possesion of one of Africas's best defence forces.
ReplyDeleteP.K.
Thanks P.K. I have learnt a lot from what you are saying. I really appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteHow about a post in this blog on the danger Kenyans are in withoout an adequate airforce and air cover to defend the country. Was the 82 airforce-led attempted coup a contributing factor to this? How do we compare with our neighbours?
I think when Chris talks about how the Nyayo regime used to run affairs in the country using the ethnic card, he is spot on. But you see, the book on Sumbeiywo, like any other biography, was written with an express purpose of celebrating what the author thought was unsung exemplary performance by a general who helped bring war to a halt, if not an end. The author's celebration is born out by the fact that all through the negotiations, Sumbeiywo's visits to the southern sudan welcomed a rousing, hero's ( nay, saviour's) welcome. I do not know whether chris has any idea what it is for innocent peasants who have problems even feeding themselves to be caught up in war. Can you imagine the joy when one man's efforts brings a ray of hope where doom and gloom reigned, before you drag issues of Luo people or any othe community into a matter that was begging for publication and exposition. Let's not be a whining people, always thinking that our people must be seen to be thieves, corrupt, tribalists and crap! The fact is there is a positive side to everything, including the efforts of some in our midst. As much as we should highliht and fight whatever is bad amongst ourselves, we have to realise that if we do not celebrate our own,a no one will. And whenever we open our loud mouths to badmouth our own, we are exposing lines of weaknesses through which others colonise, enslave and dominateus so much that we end up falling for the prejudicial sophistry that we can never do anything for ourselves.
ReplyDeleteHM (Nairobi)
It looks like any Kenyan writing about home he must revisit Moi's regime, truly, the guy was perceived by his enemies as a bad leader, spoiler, dictator, name it that was Moi's regime. However the guy ruled for 25 years and would have gone on for longer had he cheated himself when he agreed on a ten year stop date. More also he forgot that his enemies were waiting for this moment to reclaim his mantle as witnessed when Raila Odinga threatened to match to state house, obviously the guy new Moi's powers were over and he simply wanted cheap propaganda, to be seen as the man who kicked Moi out of state house. Honestly, the guy deserved a pat at the back for leading a backward community from the yokes of colonialism, poverty, illiteracy and social abuse more by the elites of that day. I have traveled a far and still feel as much as his enemies wishes to have us believe, the guy gave us alot to thank him for, if not security, the fatherly touch of national issues. Recall Moi was always there whenever social threated to tear us apart. I do urge writers to give the guy a fair trial, though majority didn't see Kenyatta's regime or the Governor under the Kings service.
ReplyDeleteIt was very interesting for me to read this blog. Thanks for it. I like such topics and anything connected to them. I definitely want to read more soon.
ReplyDeleteIt was very interesting for me to read the post. Thanx for it. I like such topics and everything that is connected to them. I definitely want to read a bit more soon.
ReplyDeleteKeep on posting such articles. I like to read articles like this. By the way add some pics :)
ReplyDeleteHi there, I enjoy reading all of your post. I wanted to write a little comment to support you.
ReplyDelete