Speaker Justin Muturi's Bigoted Ethnic Slurs Point to Rotten Kenyan Leadership

In commonwealth countries, parliamentary speakers play a crucial role. In order to ensure the orderly flow of business, the national assembly observes parliamentary rules, procedures and traditions, both written and unwritten.

It is the Speaker's duty to interpret these rules IMPARTIALLY , to remain NEUTRAL in government and opposition debates, to maintain ORDER, and to DEFEND the rights and privileges of Members, including the right to FREEDOM OF SPEECH.

In order to preserve the trust of the House, the Speaker's must uphold the sanctity of the national assembly; and his actions and utterances must be impartial.

Consequently, the Speaker never participates in debate nor allow the use unparliamentary language on the floor of the house. The Speaker may only vote in case of a tie during division. The speaker works to balance the right of the Government to transact business in an orderly manner and the right of all Members to be heard in debate.

It all seems civil and clear cut until you happen to tune to Kenya parliamentary live debates! Yup. The curse that is the Jubilee tyranny of numbers.

Kenyans do not seem to be shocked to have received news reports of Speaker Justin Muturi shouting down Kibra Member of Parliament Hon. Kenneth Okoth during live parliamentary debate yesterday: "This is not Kibera!" As if to assert the Speaker’s unfortunate comment, the Majority Leader Hon Aden Duale finished it off by yelling "it is not Kibera and we are not selling fish!"

Welcome to the land of Jubilee dominated parliament, where the insanity of ethnic innuendos, insults and tribal imputations are in abundance! Mind you, it is not the first time Speaker has used these offensive words in parliament while supressing the rights of the Honourable Member of Kibra. He has made it a habit. Instead of leading parliamentary debate towards legislating ways to help citizens improve their lives and attain better levels of development; Speaker Muturi is leading parliament to lowering its own prestige in the eyes of the public and propagating anti-Luo garbage. Instead of enforcing rules, Speaker violates them! Can Kenyans expect quality legislation?

The implication here is that parliament is not Kibera slums (where the honourable member was born and bred, and represents in parliament). The speaker’s derogatory remarks are aimed straight at Kibra voters where he assumes the majority of residents are from the Luo ethnic community whose common delicacy is fish, and according to Duale where parliament is not a fish market. Reminds us of Amos Kimunya of the past.

The Speaker not only violated parliamentary custom and standing orders, but also unwittingly let out an extremely dangerous inflammatory statement on the floor of the house which was only made worse by the majority leader. These are the silly stereotypes against poor communities more often promoted in political circles that majority Luos inhabiting Kibera slums are generally idle/lazy, drunk/drugged, diseased/unhealthy and violent/criminal slum-dwellers. Nothing could be further from the truth. All communities of Kenya live in Kibera and all communities of Kenya do sell and eat fish. So much for ignorance and silly stereotyping!

On a personal level, knowing who Hon. Kenneth Okoth is even before he became MP, this is a young man who has achieved a lot and given back so much to his community. It will be impossible for either Muturi or Dualle to achieve half of what the MP has attained.

In developed democracies, Speaker Muturi’s utterances are enough reason to demand a resignation. But in Kenya, he will be defended by people who wont see anything wrong with his reckless talk. They would tell you Muturi is doing a great job leading an institution promoting a common national heritage!

But WHAT IF it was Raila who shouted at Ngunjiri, “this is not Majengo (Nyeri slums), and Ababu sums it “and we don’t treat jigger infestations here!”? Jibu hiyo…

Abracadabra, Let There be Lights in Kogelo

With lightening speed, Obama’s ancestral home at Kogelo in Siaya was fully connected to the national electricity grid in two days. And that came after Kenyans were granted an Obama holiday last Thursday while the Americans who elected him had no such luxuries. Either its the paradox of a so-called working nation in love with RECESS or the smart scoundrels grieving with king size tears and louder than the bereaved to mask their hitherto disdain.

Well, either way the true face of deception never fails to embarrass. Welcome to African brand of leadership of personal whims selfishly played to gain political scores at whatever cost. No prize is big enough to catch an eye when expediency rules supreme.

To hell with informed leadership from in front and by example. Mediocrity is our forte while integrity remains an alien virtue these shores of ours. We are led by the leash using outdated whims of yore. Anything unfamiliar is shunned and new ideas are summarily dismissed with the wave dinosaur hands struggling to steady the wheels. What is more, the leaders can chose their actions at any tangent well secure in the knowledge that their kinsmen will foam at the mouth trying to sanitize the rot on their behalf. In the process the country suffocates from official rigidity and becomes too intoxicated with the fumes of moral decay. The free fall towards self-destruction has been so effortlessly

Leaves you wondering what bleak fates await thousand of villages which don’t have their won Obama. So resources are there aplenty and can be SELECTIVELY deployed at the flash of a finger. And that proves the perils of personalized rule legalized in IMPERIAL PRESIDENCY. In the whole game Kenyans remain helpless collateral in the political chess board.

Kibaki seems to be on an ego trip to turn Kenyans into torches to light his Christmas tree. Kenyatta and Moi may have found it difficult to conceptualize what it takes to serve neither the commensurate responsibility demanded of the same service. But Kibaki perfection of penchant for contempt to all Kenyans is inexcusable in this age and time.

Forget about the nostalgic fad of being a scholar of yore. The present leadership simply acts on sectarian whims bereft of any intellectual spine. And as for the street rants that intellectuals don’t make good politicians you can as well go ahead and tell than to the birds so that they fly high in the skies.

Leadership from the rear
We need leaders with the mien and capacity to inspire and not promise miracles. Leaders with quality housed in the box above their shoulders who leave their names in history books as builders and custodians of durable institutions that remain the bedrock of a nation’s present and future prosperity in all spheres towards sustainable stability.

Smart leaders exploit crises to shape and make history. Formulating sound policies that outlive their reign is what uniquely defines them. Focused hope is a bankable virtue that once successfully sold to a populace gains a momentum of its own for the long term good. Instead what we have flying around us are jingoists who won’t miss an opportunity to populate any opening with their TRIBESMEN with no regard to equity and fairness.

While Einstein may have preferred imagination to knowledge, Kenyan leaders are very keen to demonstrate their lack thereof of both. The only commodity they sell and dispense in abundance is fertile and creative mind to fleece and rape Kenya to the bone. Our national sense of success is so impaired so much so that without opulence, you stand accused of laziness and failing to make hay when the sun shines.

One only hopes and prays that maybe someday soon Kibaki will shuffle in shame when he miraculously rediscovers that what is housed in his head is a brain meant to be used. Predictably, Emilio's apologists will readily jump to his defense with such cheap take as promoting tourism or creating a plastic higher pedestal of fake statesmanship or any such hollow derivatives for that matter. Well, we cannot stop them from cheering on the nude king.

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