Cinematic politics of Machakos and a song of protest that remains unheard, for now

Machakos County swung forcefully back in the news this week with the usual froth of excitement. And in keeping with the spirit of county, there was a song, not just about saving the country, as some in CORD have been singing, but about saving the county.

One son of the soil, Ken wa Maria, led the brigade singing his new song titled Ni Wa Cinema. A literal translation of the song is, He’s the Cinema Man or something close to that, only that the Machakos governor, one Alfie Mutua, also happens to be a cinema guy, a producer and director to boot, one that, some whisper, has produced a few cinematic moments in his private life.

But that doesn’t interest me; it is worth mentioning, however, Alfie produced a TV drama called Cobra Squad, something close to that.

Anyhow, Alfie was out of town when the singing protesters hit the road but being the digital governor that he is, Alfie was able to pick the vibrations of the groundswell of rebellion against him from afar and call in the Cobra Squad, or whatever it is that they call county law enforcement agencies.

And before Ken wa Maria, whose other popular tune is ‘Funtamendo’, could spell out the word, he and his singing cronies got into instant flight because the county police wanted them off the streets.

And so their cinematic songs never really got heard, and one is not quite sure if what they had against Alfie had any gravitas, or funtamendo, to use wa Maria’s term.

That said, little has been heard of late about the grand city of Machakos that Alfie promised to build from scratch, powered by donkey carts that still strut the “city” streets ferrying water around because his economic funtamendos appeal to the dramatic, not the basic.

Which is not a big problem; actually, the Machakos governor has had many cinematic successes over the recent past, by any measure.

For starters, he built a most photographed road in record time and one that reportedly cost only a fraction what regular contractors had quoted for the job.

But when the road started behaving like a python by shedding off some skin, or developing pores that grew into small craters, the cinematic transformations were blamed on scribes out to tarnish the reputation of the county, not on poor workmanship.

And when the folks at Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission said they wanted to have a chat with Alfie over certain matters, he made a dramatic dash for the courts to demand they don’t talk to him at all.

So it is not just songs of protest that remain unheard in Machakos; its leadership seems reticent about talking their development agenda, even though all they do is done in the name of the people of this country. Still, that’s not a problem. If that’s the spirit of democracy under cultivation in Machakos and elsewhere, such as Homa Bay where simple matters of conducting party nominations seem gargantuan, then we should get used to the idea autocracy is a natural improvement of participatory democracy and embrace it.

That, too, is an important lesson for Kenyans to embrace, particularly because our country is meant to live in perpetuity – its full growth somewhat stunted by the periodic interventions by politicians that just don’t undermine its forward tilt, but also prolong past pains.

Ken wa Maria and his brigade seem to recognise that and sing their protest song, even in silence.