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
