Moses Marango was born in Bungoma , Kenya and educated in Kimwanga R.C. then Friends’ School Kamusinga before joining JKUAT for his Bsc. In Applied Mathematics and Physics. He later pursued his Msc. in Project Management & Governance at The Keller Graduate School of Management in Houston, Texas. He also studied Electronics Engineering Technology at NIT- Houston. He lives and works between Nairobi Kenya and Houston Texas USA.
In this book the author is trying to shed light to his the readers, more so the people of Kenya on issues that affect their livelihood. The author is not only pointing to the political woes in the country, but also to the economic, social and tribal issues among many other issues. I ( this reviewer) met with the author and asked him why he wrote this book. His answer was…” I wrote the book to let people in Kenya know that the 2007 election were the cause of the trouble Kenya has today.” Whether or not this is the reason why he ( the author) wrote this book, this reviewer can't tell since his theme is not clear as one reads the book.
The author cited that when the third President Kibaki of Kenya succeeded the second president Mr. Moi in 2002, Kenyans were optimistic and ready to forget Moi’s dictatorship that was eulogized for its cancerous corruption and tribalism. The author seems to point out in this book that Mr. Kibaki and other political leaders, the church as well as the police force, embraced tribalism which he (author) asserts that was the same path Mr. Moi followed. The author observes that, these eventually lead to violence and more than 1,500 Kenyans were killed and over 500,000 IDPs.
The author continues to ask rhetoric questions to his readers: Can the ICC afford justice for Kenyans as Kibaki and Raila feign innocence? What part does the Kenyatta legacy play as most Kenyan leaders pretend to fight inherent tribalism? Can the church in Kenya be trusted again? Is he going to receive any answers? I guess his aim is not to receive answers as such, but to bring awareness to his readers that Institutions that should be trusted as medium of peace and justice have failed the common “Mwana inchi” Kenya citizen- emphasis mine.
He further continues to ask his rhetoric questions hoping that his readers would fully understand the magnitude of the problem the country face: What happened to the covenant? How safe are we with the same police commandants still in charge despite their obvious tribal biasness? How can we help the economy to grow, improve security, healthcare, infrastructure, create jobs and curb starvation? How free is the free primary education? Who was responsible for the 2007 post election chaos in Kenya? And how can we prevent another one from happening?
In his attempt to answer his own questions, Moses elaborates the root course of the problem by asserting that the impunity is just as immoral and illegal as any crime itself. He further observes that in Kenya, impunity suffocates the tenets and thus, the administration of natural justice in favor of the power brokers and selfish tribal lobbyists. He conludes that this unfairly consigns the rights of the voiceless and the less fortunate to the peripheries of the society calling it injustice.
In this book, the author alludes to the point that it is delicate conduit that deliberately purposes to inform, educate, challenge and call to action- all those of us who consider ourselves the remaining patriotic citizens of this great nation to get proactively involved in the management of our national affairs and by extension, put perfected Godly footprints in our children’s destiny. Is he going to receive an audience in his argument as far as educating his readers is concerned? This reviewer is not positive about that. Why? Many natives of the country in question don’t have the culture of reading, the culture to hold a book and read is not in the tradition of the would be students or readers of this book.
Finally, the author asserts his own authority in what he believes and accuses the religious body saying that there is no any selflessly profitable reason to the Kenyan society as a whole, for an individual to religiously profess support for a public servant or anybody else for that matter, who breaks and abuses the law yet conveniently interprets it in favor of his tribe, stakes or status in the society just because he is relatively wealthy and influential. Does this mean that the author is taking part in who should be supporting who in the political arena? While this reviewer thinks so, he may also want to point out that there is no clear line between church and society in the republic of Kenya. Not in the post -colonial constitution.
His conclusion of this book is like a personal alter call whereby he points out that for every pledge we make, we become indebted. And for every promise we give, every commitment we enter into, and every vow we profess, we consciously put our own name and integrity on the line until we honor our part. The author changes from a write to educator and finally to a preacher. He is playing different roles to his readers to make a point. This reviewer agrees with this change of role, simply because those who may be reading this book ranges from educators, preachers, administrators and politicians among others.
Critique: The title “The Broken Covenant” theme according to this reviewer does not flow throughout the book. The author would have used a different title for the book. A good title for the book would have been "BROKEN PROMISES." His theme in the BROKEN COVENANT is not clear as one reads through the book with knownledge of what a covenant is. A covenant is a relationship between two parties that has been agreed upon through writing or vow. In his topic the author seems to suggest that Mr. Kibaki, the current president of Kenya had a covenant relationship with Kenya citizens. While this reviewer may partly disagree with him, he would also point out that politing is not a covenant of any sort. This reviewer holds these views simply because politing in any country is full of promises which are not fulfilled anyway. Did the president break any covenant per se? Not at all. Do Kenyan citizens need to know why the promises make to them by Mr. Kibaki never fullfilled, Yes, Yes and Yes, it is their right to ask the same from the president.
The author uses a lot of abreviations and assumes that his readers understand what they mean. An example of these are; IDPs ( Internaly Displaces Persons), ICC-International Criminal Court and JKUAT- (Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Techinology). This reviewer recommends to the author that his next works should be clear with all abbreviations explained so that his readers may have meaning of what he (author) is explaining.
However, this is a good book to read if one is interested in understanding what is going on behind Kenyan politics. This reviewer recommends this book to all Kenyans and mostly to those in and like politics. He would recommend the same to the sitting president of the republic of Kenya and the presidents before and after him, the PM, all government ministers and elected government officials.
Reviewed by E N. Kaburu ( the blogger)
