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PRESS RELEASE

Peeling Back the Mask

A Quest for Justice in Kenya by Miguna Miguna On August 4th 2011 the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kenya, Raila Odinga, announced, through the local Kenyan media, that he had suspended Miguna Miguna indenitely without pay as his senior adviser. In his explosive new memoirs, Peeling Back the Mask, Miguna Miguna explains why he rejected the Prime Minister's subsequent offer of reinstatement and exposes Mr Odinga's lack-lustre leadership questioning his progressive credentials and claim that he is an agent of change. Peeling Back the Mask presents a true insider's account of the intrigues, discussions and power plays that have occurred in Kenya's corridors of power in recent years. Miguna depicts a cowardly leader lacking in personal integrity and undeserving of the praise and attention of recent years.
Format: Binding: Extent:! Price:! Publication: 238 x 164 Hardback 500pp 24.95 30th June 2012

ISBN:978 1 908531 216

This is a must read for everyone interested in social justice and good governance in Africa. Peeling Back the Mask also delves back to tell the remarkable tale of Miguna's early life, from humble origins, through privations and hardship, his university days and his years as a practicing lawyer overseas. A heartwarmingly personal African story. Key Points: The author is already exceedingly well known in Kenya where he is recognised for his brutal honesty and integrity against all odds This unique account pulls no punches, exposing the corruption at the heart of power in the Kenyan political system. The author is engaging prominently in the debate as we come up to the Kenyan elections later in 2012, and also commentates on the high prole ICC trials. Massive attention in online media in anticipation of publication.

Author: Miguna Miguna served as a senior advisor for coalition, constitutional and legal affairs to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kenya, Raila Amolo Odinga between March 2008 and August 2011. He was also a joint secretary to the Permanent Committee on the Management of Grand Coalition Affairs. In 1987, Miguna and ve other Students' Organization of Nairobi University ofcials were abducted, at gun point, detained and subjected to physical, mental and psychological torture. Following his release without trial, Miguna ed to Tanzania, then Swaziland, before he was granted political asylum in Canada. He holds a BA degree from the University of Toronto and both an LLB and LLM degrees from the Osgoode Hall Law School of York University in Canada. He is a member of both the Ontario and Kenyan Bars and practised law for more than 13 years in Canada until his return to Kenya in 2007. Publicity Campaign The book will be launched in Kenya in the summer of 2012 with a subsequent international launch in London in October. Aside from bookshop signings and launch events in Nairobi and London, the author will be giving interviews to print and broadcast media in both countries. Subsequent launches are to be staged in the US, Canada and South Africa. Extracts from Peeling Back the Mask are to be serialised in one of the major Kenyan newspapers, yet to be disclosed. ------------For further information, or to arrange an interview, please contact: ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Emma O'Bryen! ! ! ! ! Publicity! ! ! ! ! ! marketing@gilgamesh-publishing.co.uk! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

or Max Scott tel: +44 7753745252 max@gilgamesh-publishing.co.uk

Selected excerpts from Peeling Back the Mask On leaving Canada: I stood in front of the bathroom mirror and examined myself carefully. The man that stared back at me wasnt the same person who had arrived in Toronto as a frightened young political refugee from Africa almost 20 years earlier, on June 25, 1988." On Raila's betrayal: The sealed suspension letter, marked top secret was delivered to me 28 hours after the media started reporting its contents. Media reports alleged that I had been suspended for misconduct. Yet I have never been given any particulars of this supposed misconduct. In other words, I had been accused, disgraced, judged and hanged without due process. And by Odinga, a man who had served eight years of detention without trial under Mois repressive regime. Odinga has always billed himself as an agent of change and as a progressive leader who believes in the rule of law and constitutionalism. Yet here he was publicly humiliating his most senior personal adviser and friend. A friend who had supported his ambitions to become president of Kenya, stood by him loyally at his darkest hour in December 2007 after President Kibaki had stolen his presidential victory and had worked tirelessly for" him ever since. Why had he treated me this way? What had I done? But even more importantly, had Odinga exposed himself as a man who couldnt be trusted with power? Was Odinga a true democrat and reformer as he had for decades claimed?" On his arrest as a student leader, which led to him eeing into exile: What followed can only be characterised as frenzied violence. As if thirsty for my blood, seven torturers jumped on me, kicking, punching and hollering. Some reached for my testicles and tried to squeeze and pull them as hard as they could while I writhed in pain. They mocked me, saying that a true revolutionary did not have to cry. Remember Che! Eh? Remember Che? one kept yelling. On the !night of the disputed 2007 general election results: Things had deteriorated to a point where sections of the media (both local and foreign), observers (both local and international), politicians from all sides, and ODM and PNU youth were baying at each other; ready for a grand nale. Kibaki and his PNU thieves will not intimidate us with his heavily armed security forces! I shouted, as I approached the front of the hall. Mr. Miguna; you will not intimidate me. I know you...I know you are huge, but Im not scared of you! responded the ECK Chairman, Samuel Kivuitu. The response was completely gratuitous, since I was not trying to intimidate anybody; all I was trying to do was demand - very strongly - for the results to start being announced. On Odinga and Kibaki's relationship: Eeeeh...eehhhh..eiiii...Please save me from Kibaki! Eeeeeh..eiiiii...Please dont let me go back to that man...I dont want to go back to Kibaki! Eeeeh...eiii...Please save me from Kibaki! Raila broke down and cried, torrents of tears owing freely down his cheeks. He was shaking uncontrollably. It was about 3:30pm on April 6, 2008. Everyone in the room was stunned. They had never seen Raila cry before. We looked at each other, unable to move. No one was prepared for this heart-wrenching scene. I guess we had assumed that Raila was superhuman. He had a larger-than-life image in the consciousness of Kenyans...But there he was, someone we all held in awe, wailing uncontrollably in front of everyone...Raila had just returned from a face-to-face meeting with Kibaki over the
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formation of the grand coalition government following the signing of the national accord and reconciliation agreement on February 28, 2008. By then he had attended numerous meetings and most had ended in stalemate or Railas capitulation. Railas debriefs...had become "a routine in itself, with him repeating Kibaki cant accept this or Kibaki is insisting on that." Raila was not only crying; he was also sweating profusely.