Joe Khamisi is the author of the book causing waves right now called Kenya: Looters and Grabbers, 54 Years of Corruption and Plunder by the Elite, 1963-2017. Please buy your own copy of the book published by Jodey Publishers.
Graft is a big story on the continent and Kenya isn’t immune from this malady that plagues the whole world. A book was written discussing this topic by someone who would know something about it; Joe Khamisi. Khamisi whose background is in journalism has worked in newspapers in Kenya and Tanzania as a news correspondent for several overseas organisations. He was also the managing director of the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation for two years.
He has previously written three books all nonfiction namely The Politics of Betrayal: Diary of A Kenyan Legislator, Dash Before Dusk, A Slave Descendant’s Journey in Freedom and The Wretched Africans which launched in April 2016 in Nairobi (Extra images and videos).
His newest book Looters and Grabbers focuses on the theft in Kenya by the elite of the country since it got independence in 1963. It is divided into four sections each dedicated to the four presidents that Kenya has had in that period. Thus there are four broad categories of; The Book of Jomo Kenyatta, The Book of Daniel Arap Moi, The Book of Emilio Mwai Kibaki, and The Book of Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta.
The fourth book reveals the inner details of corruption under the current president with chapters like Land Grabbing 2; NYS, Eurobond and more scandals and the biggest political hot potato, SGR and Chinese Scams. For those who wanted a copy they were directed by the author on his twitter feed thus;
You can get a copy from our Online Bookshop. Just go to https://t.co/99WNdn3uxV, complete a simple Paybill process, choose your product . We deliver in Nairobi within a few hours and up to 72 in the counties. Thanks for your interest.
— Joe Khamisi (@joekhamisi1) May 4, 2018
So you can imagine the shock when a PDF copy of the book started doing the rounds on WhatsApp. When I received the third copy on my inbox I was incensed prompting this hastily put together blog post. This isn’t the first time that a Kenyan writer’s work has been disseminated for free via Social Media. In the run up to the 2013 general election, Peeling Back The Mask a book by political activist Miguna Miguna was put on PDF and sent far and wide denying the writer a huge amount of revenue. It was in bad taste when it was done then and this move against Khamisi’s work today is in bad taste now.
So ladies and gentlemen. Please do writers a favour and stop forwarding copies of the work that they have taken years to produce. Joe Khamisi has recognised the danger of what is happening and has asked that those who want the book only need to send him Kshs500 for a copy of the original PDF. Here are the details.
It’s now official. If you want a genuine pdf instead of the contraband version I can send it to you directly from my computer. The 752-page book will cost only Ksh. 500/-. Please send the money via mpesa to Paybill No. 400200 account no. 01145007402200 Co-operative Bank.
— Joe Khamisi (@joekhamisi1) May 7, 2018
Let’s do the right thing please people.
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