Why Do Kenyans Like To name Their Babies After Presidents… Even Future Ones?

There was a nyama choma joint at Kariakor that I loved to frequent some years back. They served excellent roasted Goat meat. Sadly it shut down a few years ago. But I remember the owner was a youngster called Nyayo. I think he was Nyayo Odhiambo. I felt pity for the guy because President Moi was not particularly popular at the time I met this young Kenyan. No mistaking when he was born. President Moi took over the reigns of power from the departed soul of President Jomo Kenyatta with the rallying cry of Nyayo (meaning that he would continue where Kenyatta had left off. And that he did in many ways – not all of them good.)

Then there are some other common names in Kenya like Ernest Kenyatta Mwilitsia, Odhiambo-Clinton and Abednego-Nixon not to mention Sospeter Kibaki Ochieng. And oh there is also Kenneth Kaunda Wathome (after former Zambian President). And the Mandelas are just so many that if you stood in the middle of the streets of Nairobi and shouted out the name at any time of day, there is a good chance that somebody will come trotting towards you.

Now some smart Kenyan has agreed with what we are proposing in this blog and they’ve gone and named their son (born last week) Githongo-Awino.

If I brought another soul to this world I would give them a name to make sure we never forget what triggered the whole season-change we have talked about in our lead article today. I’d call them Githongo Dossier Kyalo if it was a boy and Dossier-Githongo Kyalo if they were a girl – Doss to her friends.

Is this the start of anti-Githongo propaganda?