Leader of Majority Kimani Ichungwah’s vitriolic outbursts during the burial of National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula’s mother last week conveyed a serious lack of empathy and emotional intelligence.
When he blew his top and turned a solemn funeral ceremony into a forum for settling scores with former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and Trans Nzoia Governor George Natembeya, he registered a new low in sycophantic disposition.
Ichung’wah’s outbursts were disrespectful to Wetang’ula, the Bukusu people and the entire Luhya community whose burial customs he dis-paraged. Outside church, burials among the Luhya are the second most sacred places where differences are masked. The Luhya Council of Elders has a duty to protest this insult and demand an apology from Ichung’wah for being so insensitive; a culture that is gaining ascendancy among the political elite.
Three things attend to sycophancy, which Ichung’wah ably demonstrated. These are hypocrisy, lies and manipulation. In his blind rage, he told two actionable untruths, and implicated the very person he thought he was defending.
Unless the government acknowledges it is incompetent, ineffective and a flop, Ichung’wah’s wild claim that Gachagua has been organising ab-ductions is jejune and defeatist. Where is the evidence, and why is Gachagua, an ordinary citizen, still roaming free when he should be gracing some prison cell for the very grave crime of abduction?
The second wild goose chase is the claim that Natembeya was the key abductor and killer of Kenyans under the previous regime of President Uhuru Kenyatta. It did not cross Ichung’wah’s mind that Ruto served as the deputy president in that government and any attempt to exonerate him from guilt by association is futile. Inadvertently, Ichung’wah inferred that this government is continuing a clandestine culture of killings and abductions that started under the previous regime.
Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja has enough reasons to coax valuable information from Ichung’wah. He might end up getting infor-mation that could solve the puzzle of the River Yala bodies and current abductions and redeem the National Police Service.
Since the Gachagua impeachment fiasco boomeranged on most MPs from the Mt Kenya region, Ichung’wah seems to be acting as the contempo-rary Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda, but falls woefully short. His attempts to manipulate the public into believing in Kenya Kwanza, its glaring shortcomings notwithstanding, have failed because they are vacuous, and the man is on tenterhooks.
Ichung’wah’s fascination with Gachagua is unhealthy for him. In case he hasn’t noticed, Ruto doesn’t talk about Gachagua post-impeachment. The other quarrelsome government apologists no longer talk about Gachagua publicly, and all have tactfully retreated from making unnecessary public statements. He is the lone voice that keeps drawing attention to himself, and in the process, disturbing his own peace.
Sycophancy has an expiry date that is dictated by fluid political circumstances. At the moment, Uhuru is one of the props supporting the Kenya Kwanza government. Insulting or maligning him is injudicious. If Ruto were to be called upon to make a choice between Ichung’wah and Uhuru, it is no brainer who he will choose.
In the current political matrix, Ichung’wah is nothing but a mouthy attack dog that will lose value when there is nothing more to bark at. Just to put things into perspective, a tale is told of an overzealous supporter of Roman Emperor Caligula who, on learning the emperor was sick, said pub-licly that he would give up his own life in celebration if Caligula recovered. Through his display of public affection for the emperor, the poor man secretly hoped to get rewarded. Well, Caligula recovered and granted the poor man’s wish by ordering his execution.
Intemperate leaders and advisors who have erected a bastion around the presidency are the scourge of this nation. They are too full of them-selves and therefore unfit to give the President sound advice or preside over critical government functions. Hot tempers and objectivity don’t jell.