Besides providing comic relief, hilarious memes have a dark side

President William Ruto and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga. [File, Standard]

The telltale signs of brewing trouble are there. There is so much hate in the air being directed at the person of the President and former Prime Minister through cleverly crafted memes which, if allowed to continue, could grow into a monster that will be hard to contain.

In retrospect, the 1994 Rwanda genocide was a culmination of years of incitement to hatred against the Tutsi who were portrayed as a dangerous and inferior people by the Hutus. The trigger that sparked off the madness that claimed over 800,000 lives in just two months was the April 6, 1994 plane crash that claimed the life of President Juvenal Habyarimana. The plane crash was conveniently blamed on the Tutsi, then under the leadership of Paul Kagame.

The Constitution 2010, regarded as the most progressive in the world, is no doubt a beautiful document. As time progresses, however, the chinks in it are begging to show. Child rights, for instance, are breeding a carefree generation that is not bothered by the very bonds that have held communities together for millennia. The freedoms the Constitution guarantees Kenyans can be circumvented at will by the government without consequences.

The principle of separation of powers between the executive, legislature and the Judiciary is a charade meant to hoodwink the gullible. The reality is that the executive controls the other two through instruments provided by the same Constitution. The freedom of speech and expression in Kenya are conditional.

If either rub those in authority the wrong way, it ceases to exist. Feckless leaders hide behind the law on defamation and saddle media houses with libel cases just to scare journalists from reporting the truth. Curiously though, I believe the court frowned on this practice a few years back.

The memes earlier alluded to accord comic relief but are increasingly becoming a source of irritation for many who venture beyond the cursory glance to get the deeper meaning. The argument by those who derive pleasure from the memes is that they have not mentioned anyone, therefore cause no harm to any individual. This argument presupposes that Kenyans are fools, and that there is nothing those assumed to be the subjects of the memes can do.

The discerning, however, are concerned that the memes bode ill for the country and are inciting people to hatred that could lead to violence. We are rational beings and many of us can easily tell who the memes depict.

The acronym AUC inscribed on a house from which an individual has been kicked are telling enough in the midst of a spirited campaign by some to discredit Raila Odinga who is gunning for the African Union Commission’s chairmanship next year. Moneybags and the name Zakayo are adequate markers that lead to an individual.

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Those posting and reposting the memes find comfort in the freedom of speech and expression, no doubt guaranteed by our Constitution. This freedom, however, does not grant one the freedom to insult, malign or ridicule others; they also have rights that kick in where those of others intrude on them.

Gen Z is hitting back at Ruto for the overbearing manner in which his instruments of violence descended on them on June 25, 2024. They have taken the fight off the streets to the web where balaclava clad men in Subaru vehicles cannot reach. The web is a maze where government muscle counts for nothing.

Unfortunately, this seeming fun that ‘speaks truth’ to power is raising tribal consciousness that could be inimical to this country. These memes, for instance, are taking advantage of the bitterness around former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s impeachment to spark hatred against another community.

It is at this point that we must question what the work of the National Cohesion and Integration Commission is. By now, it should be aware of these memes.