Former Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairperson Ahmed Issack Hassan received advice from Citizen TV anchor Jamila Mohamed, who helped him cope with humiliation.
In his memoir, Referee of a Duty Ugly Game, Hassan recalled Citizen TV Managing Editor telling him to speak slowly to overcome his speech impediment.
Hassan admitted stumbling over words, a flaw he alleged lawyer Miguna Miguna capitalised on to mock him in an opinion article he published in a newspaper.
According to the former IEBC chair, Miguna also mocked him through his book 'Peeling Back the Mask.'
"He further made fun of how I spoke, suggesting that I was deficient in this respect," Hassan wrote in his book.
" It is true that I have a speech impediment in that I stammer, and at times I stumble over my words. In the course of my time at the Interim Independent Electoral Commission of Kenya (IIEC), I was advised by Jamila Mohamed, a senior journalist at Citizen TV, to articulate my words slowly to overcome this," Hassan recounted.
Explaining the cause of his rivalry with Miguna, Hassan stated that he made a comment which rubbed Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) the wrong way.
His comments sucked him into ODM wrangles as the commission wanted to bar the party from punishing a rebel councillor.
"The commission had unfortunately been caught up and sucked into the ODM party wrangles. I made an additional comment on the matter that further rubbed those allied to ODM the wrong way, stirring up even more trouble for me. In a press conference while recalling the letter, I pointed out that if ODM wanted to degazette the councillors because of disloyalty, it should start with the 'big fish' within the party," he recalled.
Following his directive, Hassan recalled receiving sustained attacks from Miguna through newspaper articles and TV shows.
In his memoir, Referee of a Duty Ugly Game, Hassan wondered why Miguna attacked him so viciously.
"I had noted that he generally engaged in debates on television with eloquence, and wrote captivating, thought-provoking articles, though I could not figure out why he attacked me so viciously on this particular one," Hassan posed.
"What baffled me, however, was why Miguna was so antagonistic towards me, as evidenced by the vitriol and bile in his writing," the former electoral body chairperson indicated.
However, Hassan stated that he ended his rivalry with former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and his camp in March 2015 after gifting him cologne and other inflight gifts.
Hassan admitted that the gift was enough for Raila to convince his troops to drop sustained attacks against him following the 2013 Presidential Election loss to former President Uhuru Kenyatta. He served from November 2011 to October 2016 before Wafula Chebukati took over.
In his response, Miguna, on Tuesday, April 4, argued that Hassan, in his memoir, heaped blamed on other electoral officials. He further questioned the former IEBC boss's reputation.
