Criticise leaders, but only over their performance

I’m not a huge fan of President Uhuru Kenyatta. I don’t think he has done a good job of running the country. This is because ever since the president and his deputy rolled up the sleeves of their white shirts on that truly fateful day in 2013, this country has been rolling down a hill.

Every time I drive on Mombasa Road through to Uhuru Highway, dodging cranes and trucks on dusty diversions, I’m reminded that this government’s idea of development is always at the expense of ordinary citizens. The construction of the expressway is expensive and inconvenient.

It’s costing the taxpayer about Sh60 billion at a time when we should be focusing on public health, not fancy roads that only the middle and upper classes will have the luxury to use.

That Sh60 billion price tag means that motorists will have to shell out 300 bob every time they use the road that has been built, and will be managed, by the China Road and Bridge Corporation. As if we didn’t owe China enough money already.

Anyway, that’s been our ‘new normal’ since the first Monday of March 2013, when the two won an election while their matter was in court. We are a population that’s as limp as wilted lettuce in a sandwich of loan and debt.

But despite all that, and no matter what anyone thinks of the president and his deputy, there’s only so far you can go in critiquing them. Ideally, our criticisms of people in leadership should be limited to their performance in office; we should be discussing what they do, not how they look.

Which is why the comments that people made about the president’s weight gain are in bad taste. For all the women who took shots at Uhuru, I’m talking to you. Because too many women, myself included, know how it feels to be fat-shamed just because they have put on a couple of pounds in a world where skinny is the standard.

Right now, I’m literally the elephant in the room because of the 10+ kilogrammes I have gained since the second Friday of March 2020.

I went to the doctor talking about ‘oh my chest hurts, I think there’s a problem with my heart’ and she looked me dead in my face and said, “You’re not dying, you’re just fat”.

She also said that since the pandemic began most of her patients have gained between five and 10kg, which made me feel slightly better, but hey, I’m still fat. And everywhere I go, people remind me of it. Someone even told me that I wasn’t this fat when I was pregnant.

So when folks started poking fun at the president, much as I’m not a fan, I took offence on his behalf. Maybe he’s put on a few Covid-19 pounds, or maybe there’s something else going on with his health, who knows. Whichever way, the last thing a person needs is to remind them that they have gained weight because, trust me, they already know.

Bottom line, leave the president and his weight alone. He does so many other big things that deserve criticism and critique.

 

Ms Masiga is Peace and Security editor, The Conversation