Rogue Ambassador: An African Memoir

Rating:
Summary: Took a particular interest since last year
Review: Smith Hempstone tells us about his fight to encourage (if not impose) multipartism in Kenya. His book takes a brand new resonance now that, ten years later, his efforts were brought to fruition with the fall of the once unique Kanu party and the election of Mwai Kibaki as president.

This result alone deserves respect. However, about the book, a couple of things can be said. Lots of paragraphs are of doubtful utility, like the ones about "operation bullship", an operation that didn't happen anyway, so why bother indeed ? The most interesting topic in the book is how democracy made a leap forward in Kenya, and the whole book might have been better had it been organized more around this main subject.

The tone of the book lacks humility in my view, and since I was reading Leakey's Wildlife Wars at a similar time, I can tell that the latter conveys a much more humane feeling about what it takes to fight for improvment in a country. Maybe this is because Leakey is Kenyan. When Hempstone braggs about democracy being so fundamental in the USA, one can reply that achieving democracy is easier once you've wiped out the native people in a territory, and that you're left with European immigrants sharing the same lifestyle and language...

But apart from style, this book is a most valuable read, and all the more interesting since the recent political changes in Kenya.

Rating:
Summary: The Truth Uncovered
Review: The book offers another dimension in this brutal killing that shocked the world. It sheds light on the power play that exists in Moi's evil government machinery that is willing to do anything to perpetuate the evil empire. This unbiased account is one that every Kenyan and friends of Kenya should read as we prepare for the inevitable homecoming of all children of the Kenyan Diaspora. Though a foregone conclusion, the fact that we need a government that respects its citizens and understands its mandate remains a recurring theme. "Building the New Kenya" is and should be our motto !

Rating:
Summary: Compelling Read
Review: This is an important work that gives a frank perspective and historical account of Kenya, and the forces tugging at it. Mr Hempstone is a gifted writer, and this book reflects that. His reference to Mau Mau freedom fighters as terrorists leaves much to be desired. This is fact is a misrepresentation of Mau Mau. Mau Mau helped Kenya achieve independence from Britain (its means may not have been diplomatic, nevertheless, kenyans were liberated from the yoke of colonialism.) Apart from this fact, I would recommend it to anyone seeking a detailed account of the events of those years, but to caution you that this is infact written with lots of baggage that is the character of this man (he seems to relish the days of colonialism, yet he (and the US)did have an impact (positive or negative to Kenyans we do not know yet). Compelling and insightful.