Prezzo Ruto has a new song in the New Year, though his singing and dancing are out of tune

President William Ruto and First Lady Rachel Ruto join in a dance during the New Year celebrations at the Kisii State Lodge, on January 1, 2024. [File, Standard]

I have a new resolve for the New Year: I will engage in something called news avoidance. It simply means a deliberate effort not to read or catch up with the news because it feels as though what’s being reported today was reported yesterday.

That was my precise response when I tuned in to my laptop—because the TV set has long been taken over by the true owners of the house on the New Year’s eve and found Prezzo Bill Ruto delivering his state of the nation address.

I don’t know how many addresses he intends to deliver to the nation this year, and it doesn’t really matter because I won’t be watching. This week, I didn’t hear what he was saying because I shut down the laptop when I saw him lick his lip, gesticulating wildly.

So, you can imagine surprise when I logged in again to check if his address was over and found the serious speech was over and Prezzo was dancing joyfully to usher in the New Year. Well, he wasn’t exactly dancing, but he did move his feet and sway sideways, shaking hands that were stretched out.

I tried to catch the words on the lips of those dancing with Prezzo, and they were singing out of tune, and I instantly thought the song to be inappropriate. The song was ‘Kasongo,’ which is about love and loss, and it wasn’t clear what Prezzo and his retinue of handlers found funny about the song because they were giggling feverishly.

I figured they probably didn’t understand its meaning, which is just as well.