Hii ni ile season ya kuoga na kurudi soko. It’s an art perfected for centuries by members of the oldest profession and adopted by politicians. The media is all ears and eyes, so that wananchi are not duped during this election campaign. How do we know?
Deputy President William Ruto cited the wrong verse at the National Prayer Breakfast attended by President Uhuru Kenyatta, the country’s political bigwigs and guests from around the region. “William Ruto quotes wrong verse at Prayer Breakfast”, NTV Kenya tweeted. The link took you to a story published by Nairobi News, a Nation Media Group publication.
“Dr Ruto made the error while addressing the gathering, which included President Uhuru Kenyatta, a host of political and religious leaders from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and the DR Congo,” the report said.
Oh, God! How awful! In a country that is over 80 per cent Christian, where even school kids can correctly quote book, chapter and verse of the holy writ with little difficulty? And the man aspiring to be The 5th quotes the wrong verse at the National Prayer Breakfast?
Congratulations to our hawk-eyed journalists for exposing this massive failure of leadership. All journalists must cram the Holy Book, so that they can expose politicians who quote the wrong verse. Ask Chief General Commander Pastor James Ng’ang’a. Misquoting the Bible is worse than blasphemy. The country could be under a curse if the alert journalists hadn’t corrected the error.
The NMG scribes identified the verse Ruto misquoted as Isaiah 1:18. They leafed through the scriptures and found the correct reference to be Romans 2:23.
That was meticulous. Journalism is about verification. You don’t simply reproduce what a politician says – especially in this season ya kuoga na kurudi soko.
But where was this professional rigour on May 16? Azimio presidential flag bearer His Earthquakeness Raila Amolo Odinga unveiled his running mate at KICC. He bellowed:
“Cometh the hour, cometh the lady. I have the great honour to announce that I have picked as my running mate and Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Constitutional Affairs the Honourable Martha Wangari Karua”.
Aje sasa? Article 147 (4) of the Constitution states that, “The Deputy President shall not hold any other state or public office”. Martha Karua can’t be Deputy President and CS if The Owner of The Earth becomes The 5th. But the saturation media coverage that followed the announcement ignored this glaring anomaly. Why? Scribes who have mastered the Good Book don’t read the Constitution?
Exactly a week later on May 23, Azimio announced creation of 16 teams to drive Raila’s presidential campaign. A Citizen TV report said, “Odinga has designated influential and trusted individuals to head his campaigns in various regions to galvanise the gains and ensure his teams cover all parts of the country in search of votes before the August 9 polls”.
The next day the Nation carried the headline, “Raila unveils campaigns dream team”. The report said, “Cabinet Secretaries, governors and MPs are leading 16 teams that will spearhead Mr Raila Odinga’s presidential campaigns across the country”.
Cabinet Secretaries Ukur Yatani (Treasury), Eugene Wamalwa (Defence) and Peter Munya (Agriculture) as well as Chief Administrative Secretary Rachael Shebesh were listed in Raila’s campaigns “dream team”.
But neither Citizen TV nor the Daily Nation highlighted the fact that state officers should not take part in politics. On May 25, The Standard published a story titled, “Political merchants in Uhuru’s Cabinet”.
“They are vocal and have taken sides. They juggle political outings with the demands of ministerial dockets. Now questions have arisen on the integrity, public trust and independence of the institutions they head”.
Mombasa Road made reference to Section 23(2) of the Leadership and Integrity Act that states: “An appointed state officer shall not engage in political activity that may compromise or be seen to compromise the political neutrality of the office subject to any laws relating to elections”.
Lawyer Bobby Mkangi, one of the drafters of the Constitution of Kenya 2010, told The Standard “the conduct of the CSs already compromises the perception of how elections will be conducted and outcome of the polls”. That is one ground to challenge the results, he said.
Law Society of Kenya president Eric Theuri told the paper, “The right and most honourable thing for CSs to do is to resign and then engage in politics, the reason being you do not want public resources being used in propagating partisan political activities”.
An election is a process. Is the media watching over the August 9 poll in its entirety, or does the Fourth Estate conveniently turn a blind eye to certain critical anomalies that may jeopardise the integrity of the election and plunge the country into disaster? We have that history.
“Churches to get front bench in government if Raila wins”, a People Daily headline announced on May 24 (p.6). Kicker: “Azimio head will seek pact with clergy on security and administrative matters to foster peace and harmony”.
Maajabu ya Musa! Did His Earthquakeness promise that? Meaning? Would a Raila government make Christianity the state religion? Or how would churches get “front bench in government”? Under what law? What pact might give priests, nuns, pastors, bishops, prophets, apostles, street preachers and the like a role in security and administrative matters?
“The church will have a key place in the management of the country’s affairs should presidential candidate Raila Odinga win the August 9 elections”, the report said.
Kenya’s governance architecture is enshrined in the Constitution. The church, or any other religion, has no direct role “in the management of the country’s affairs”. Kenya is a secular state. There is no state religion. The state and religion are separate. Whereas everyone is entitled to freedom of faith, discrimination on the basis of religion is outlawed. Absolutely no way churches can get a “front bench in government”.
Hii ni ile season ya kuoga na kurudi soko. What should the Fourth Estate do?
