Michael Mundia Kamau
P.O. Box 58972
00200 City Square
Nairobi
Kenya

13th May 2004

   KUBAFU !

In typical Kenyan fashion, President Mwai Kibaki partly referred to his
official driver as “kubafu”(idiotic), at a public function held in
Kiambu
district on 8th May 2004. It is difficult to tell why this was
necessary but
one notes a continued effort by President Kibaki to ape the presidency
of
Mzee Kenyatta. The last time that Kenyans publicly heard insults from a
sitting president was during the reign of President Kenyatta from
1963-1978.
President Kibaki is making no effort to conceal the deep admiration he
had
for President Kenyatta given that his government also launched a new
generation of currency notes with Kenyatta’s potrait. President Kibaki
however appears to be moulding into a Mzee Kenyatta clone rather than a
Mzee
Kenyatta admirer, and is displaying little or no originality of his
own.

The role of President Kibaki and his government is to reverse the
indiscipline in Kenya. We have no regard for good conduct, decorum law
and
order. There is next to no stature and dignity left in Kenya anymore
and
President Kibaki will not help in correcting this worring situation by
casual insults in public. “Kubafu” and several other stronger insults
are in
everyday use across Kenya for no good reason. Instead of addressing the
problems afflicting this country, we are concealing deep inadequacies
by
taking refuge in insults. Disputes in public service vehicles are very
common in Kenya, for instance. Much too often, these disputes involve
older
members of society who should know better. Almost always, these
disputes
digress from the subject matter and degenerate into pathetic and
repulsive
exchanges of insults including President Kibaki’s “kubafu”. This
happens day
in day out, in K.A.N.U.’s era and NARC’s. The president must lead by
example
if this repulsive culture is to be reversed. Ironically, former
President
Moi went to great pains to portray leadership in a dignified light.
President Moi had a stoic no nonsense stature. It is said that this is
the
reason that Moi has opted to wear contact lenses for many years, rather
than
spectacles, as spectacles would portray “Mukulu” (the leader), as weak.

President Kibaki also ought to be more sensitive to the people’s
plight. The
state driver insulted by him, personifies different faces of society.
As a
driver, he represents the common man’s plight. He is the cashier at the
supermarket, the farmer, the public service vehicle tout, the policeman
on
the beat, the nurse at the clinic and the primary school teacher. To
insult
his driver is to insult the vast majority of Kenya, the vast majority
that
voted him president. President Kibaki’s official driver is however a
common
man, and much more. The Kenyan presidential guard is drawn from the
elite
Recce Company of the paramilitary General Service Unit (GSU). These are
individuals who receive specialized training in presidential security
in
countries like Israel, to complement skills already attained in Kenya.
The
General Service Unit as a whole is dreaded and feared in Kenya, let
alone
the Recce Company. By referring to his official driver as “kubafu”,
President Kibaki was by extension branding Kenyan pilots, Kenyan
doctors,
Kenyan engineers and Kenyan architects, “kubafu”. On Saturday, 8th May
2004,
President Kibaki effectively insulted an entire nation.

If President Kibaki admires President Kenyatta so much, then it should
be
more fully than is being displayed. We are not seeing President
Kenyatta’s
personal touch in President Kibaki’s presidency. President Kenyatta
made it
the practice during his presidency to leave State House, Nairobi,
during
rush hour in the evening. The aim by  President Kenyatta was to most
probably entrench the belief that all equal Kenyans are equal.
Kenyatta’s
motorcade would at times go through Nairobi’s Majengo slums, on it’s
way to
his Gatundu home. On one of these several occasions, legend has it,
Kenyatta
was drawn to a familiar face in the crowd and ordered the motorcade to
stop.
After scrutinising, the individual more closely, Kenyatta elatedly
called
out “Wewe mukora Abdallah !” (Abdallah, you rascal !), to which
Abdallah
retorted “Wewe Mzee….., ume upata ukubwa uka tusahau !” (You have
fallen on
big things Mzee Kenyatta, and forgotten us !). Kenyatta immediately
disembarked from his limousine and went and bonded with his old friend
Abdallah. It emerged that Mzee Kenyatta and Abdallah were amongst the
pioneers of Nairobi’s Majengo slums, and stayed there together in the
1920s
and again in the 1940s, in a country that still insists that no one
comes
from Nairobi. Mzee Kenyatta and Abdallah formed part of what were
playfully
referred to as “Wakora wa Majengo” (Rascals of Majengo), in those days.
President Kibaki is yet to bond with the Kenyan people in this manner.
He is
too detached and too aloof, and does not look like he is going to
change.

Michael Jackson is another example of a public figure who has stayed at
the
top because of his links with the grassroots. Michael Jackson has for
several years commissioned dancers from the slums of America, who
update him
on the latest street moves. Michael Jackson has over the years
skillfully
blended street innovations with his own creatively developed moves, and
always stayed in contention. It is time for President Mwai Kibaki to
visit
the slums of Kenya.



Michael Mundia Kamau