The cover for the book "It's Our Turn to Eat," by Michela Wrong is shown.
(amazon.com)
When British journalist Michela Wrong published her book about the crushing effects of Kenyan corruption a few months back, she knew her material would be explosive.
After all, her story of the crusade of one man, John Githongo, to investigate and document corrupt practices by officials illustrated just how deep graft had wormed its way into Kenyan politics, becoming a standard practice of the country's elite and top cabinet ministers, and receiving the tacit approval of Kenya's supposed reformist president, Mwai Kibaki.
What Ms. Wrong didn't count on was fear. Even today, no bookstore in Kenya offers her book, "It's Our Turn to Eat" for sale. Many booksellers, noting past lawsuits for defamation, fretted over reprisals by politicians named in the book.
Yet the anger of ordinary Kenyans has overcome fear. Today, one can buy the book on street corners at giveaway prices. Radio talk-show hosts excerpt it on the air, and church ministers read from it in services, paired with biblical parables about the importance of standing up for principle. It's a grass-roots movement of people who know that corruption, in a poor country, can be as deadly as war.
"This is about free speech and good governance," says Wrong in a phone interview. She adds that she is "flattered" by the groundswell around her book, but has not organized it herself. "The idea is that once you've got 5,000 copies of the book out there, then the boycott will be meaningless, and any bookseller with an ounce of entrepreneurialism will say, 'You can buy the book on the street corner, so I might as well sell it, too.' "
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