The tumultuous reign of the Jubilee Administration remains one of the most intriguing political decades in Kenya.
In For the Record, Hon. Aden Duale, the first Leader of the Majority Party, and the longest-serving legislative playmaker of that administration, reveals the unofficial local and geopolitical intrigues that informed national priorities. For a man who worked closely with three presidents and a prime minister, Duale had to tell his story.
The book is peppered with candid recollection of key events, dates and private conversations that illuminate the thinking of Kenya’s top leadership. It reads like frank self-assessment – warts and all — from a grassroots lawmaker with a national profile, a clear-eyed introspection by a connected powerbroker.
The book reveals that for the majority of Kenyan politicians, the currency is betrayal, treachery, hypocrisy and greed. For the reticent minority, politics is about personal determination to change lives, strategic focus to sustainably empower people, keeping public interest first. Duale reflects on the philosophy of the hustle. He shows that even if you have a mentor opening doors for you, you must work hard. In the end, with God, all things are possible.
Hon. Aden Duale was born in 1965 in rural Garissa in the North Eastern Region of Kenya. He received his basic education in Garissa. He did his advanced level studies at Moi Forces Academy in Nairobi, and thereafter went to Moi University in the Rift Valley town of Eldoret, where he earned a degree in education. He worked as a teacher of history and economics before venturing into retail and wholesale business.
Duale has been elected four times on four different political parties in four different elections. He served as an assistant minister in the Grand Coalition Government between 2008-2011.
In 2013, he became the first Leader of the Majority Party in Kenya, a position created by the 2010 Constitution. Under his tenure, he steered the passage of at least 150 Bills into law. He was unceremoniously removed from the position in June 2020, in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic as the jostling for President Uhuru Kenyatta’s successor took centre stage.
In 2022, he was appointed the Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Defence serving with his close friend and President, Dr. William Ruto.
Duale is a committed Muslim and community leader, a loving husband, a doting brother, a hard-working father, and a dedicated public servant. He lives in Nairobi and Garissa.
"For The Record is a welcome part of our political literature. It is also one of a kind..the book offers candid insights into the chicanery, backstabbing and behind-the-scenes deals that accompany Kenya’s power politics. The political treatise gives insider information few Kenyan public figures have [dared to give] in the past, hence a must-read for lovers of Kenyan politics and aspiring politicians." -The Sunday Standard
"Written in a racy, breathless style, the book is a literary whirlwind given the author’s stature in Kenya’s political landscape…For The Record has set a high bar, both in terms of (auto)biography writing in Kenya and in telling the Kenyan political story forthrightly" -The People Daily
"As expected, Mr. Duale draws blood–making minced meat of opponents -his words smashing, crashing, cracking, slicing, slashing and splitting…"
–The Saturday Nation
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