Choosing to whistleblow bigger corruption scandals especially in a country like Kenya might pose lots of risks than many can fathom.
No other whistleblowing case proves that point more than that of David Munyakei, arguably Kenya's first ever mega-corruption whistleblower of the Goldenberg scandal in the early 1990s.
What, however, disheartens the most is how, after saving the country billions of shillings, he met his death in the most heartbreaking way.
In his book, The True Story of David Munyakei: Goldenberg Whistleblower, Billy Kahora revealed that Munyakei lost his job as a clerk at the Central Bank shortly after exposing the scandal that involved false exports of gold that were made from Kenya.
He moved to the coastal region while running away for his dear life, married a coastal girl but what pricked our eyes was the manner in which he died in Narok in July 2006.
It was reported that he caught pneumonia but since he had not been compensated for his heroic act, he could not afford to buy himself medicine and so he succumbed to the disease.
The book further reveals that shortly after the exposé, Munyakei's friends abandoned him and that the state, which at the time was under former President Daniel Moi, branded him a criminal and the anti-corruption agencies dropped him when his worth declined.
Munyakei allegedly turned down financial offers from superiors to both keep silent and lay low not to expose a scandal that still turned his world upside down.
Billionaire businessman Kamlesh Pattni's two firms, including Goldenberg International, were involved in the now infamous scandal in which they would purport to export gold and diamond jewellery and receive compensation from the government for earning foreign exchange.
It turned out that the company, which ran the scandal for three years, never actually exported any gold and that the figures presented were fictitious. It threatened to bring down the economy.
