HAS JOE KHAMISI DITCHED POLITICS AND TURNED TO WRITING?

It seems we won’t be seeing former Bahari MP Joe Khamisi in active politics anytime soon. The writings on the wall state it all. According to his google+ profile, he is into writing, more so bragging that he is feeling good to be out of politics.

“I am currently a full time writer after working for many years as a journalist, diplomat and politician in five foreign countries.” So it reads.

First he made use of his diary by putting down everything political  he had in it into a political narrative. As he says “it is a narrative of his observation of the Kenyan politics for the period 2001 to 2008.”

In the book are scathing descriptions of politicians’ track records with information on the scandalous antics of Kenyan politicians. It focuses on the period starting 2001 when president Moi and Raila Odinga ventured into a tricky alliance until opposition against Moi peaked following the declaration of current His excellency president Uhuru Kenyatta as Moi’s successor.

As he puts it 2001 – 2008 were the most critical years in the country's history when President Daniel Arap Moi's dictatorial rule ended, the country saw massive corruption in the public sector and Kenya was engulfed in post election violence, in which more than one thousand people were killed and tens of thousands of others displaced. It is during this period that Kilifi County experienced its first terrorism attack-paradise hotel in Mtwapa.

So you think after giving the political narrative he will resurface in politics? Think again. He now has firm grip and it seems he won’t be putting his pen down soon. As he puts it on the same introduction in black and white, he is currently writing his biography, The Dash Before Dusk, Which he hopes to launch in June.

What is the Dashing all about? Why the move into writing? I don’t know. However I think his writings should have been a tool of giving the current Kilifi County government a strong opposition now that he lost the gubernatorial race.

Having served the people of Bahari as their MP and with a first hand experience of decentralized governments, the graduate from University of Maryland University College (UMUC) is in a better place to be their voice once again, now that Majimboism is in place. Will he be up to the task? Let’s wait and see.