[UAH] Why Kenya does political funerals like rock concerts
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11:28 AM |
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Death has always been big everywhere. However, at least as far as Africa goes, Kenya has turned one segment of mortality — political deaths — into a whole new art form.
The political death business in Kenya is in fact about 10 years ahead of its East African neighbours.
Last Wednesday, for half the day, all self-respecting Kenya TV stations carried the requiem mass for the late Makueni senator Mutula Kilonzo. The next day was the funeral, and so the show went on.
Kilonzo was a former minister, colourful, a wealthy lawyer, feisty politician, and one of the most quick-witted Kenyans when it came to thinking on his feet. He was always a good story.
His still mysterious death on the night of April 27 in his sleep at his expansive farm spawned saucy social media gossip, set off a conspiracy theory frenzy, and gripped the nation. But it does not explain the all-day live TV coverage.
When people like Kilonzo die in Uganda, for example, usually their families and supporters will clamour that they get a state funeral. A day or two of the body lying in state in parliament will be enough to appease them. The striking thing in Kenya is that you rarely hear this demand for a state funeral, because the death of the famous has also become highly marketised.
Thus, at the funerals, you see some things you don't in other East African countries. For example, Mutula's funeral service was a highly patriotic event, with the national colours everywhere.
And therein lies the big difference. Kenya is a very politically divided country, but an outsider will sense that among the things that keep it together are death and funerals.
The country's bitterest political rivals ensure that they attend the funerals of Kenya's famous fallen. They shake hands warmly, hug, smile and say nice things about each other. Even a cynic cannot but admire the temporary bonhomie among enemies at these funerals.
In the process, they have turned these funerals into Kenya's biggest bipartisan political event. It seems the country's sharp divisions get softened momentarily.
The live TV coverage, which over the years has risen out of cutthroat competition and the Africa-wide stirrings of renewed pride that have created a huge market for local content, basically institutionalised the Kenyan political funeral.
The result of guaranteed live TV at the "big" funerals is that turnout by the powerful and the celebrated has increased. They take the front seats, and the masses get pushed to the back. And because the live coverage turns everyone into a TV star, people dress up.
Kenya must be the only country in East Africa where people are often smarter at funerals than at weddings. The Mutula services, for example, were notable for the near-absence of those scruffy neighbours and distant relatives from the village. The beautiful people had taken over the front rows.
I suspect that with TV stations looking for ratings, and a power elite desperate for opportunities to relieve political tensions, Kenya could be becoming a nation that needs a few "good" deaths and funerals every year for its political rebalancing.
Charles Onyango-Obbo is Nation Media Group's executive editor for Africa & Digital Media. E-mail: cobbo@ke.nationmedia.com. Twitter: @cobbo3
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