{UAH} Pojim/ Rajab:: Standard Digital News - Kenya : Ole Lenku is a jester in the royal kraal
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Standard Digital News - Kenya : Ole Lenku is a jester in the royal kraal
Every traditional African king had his court jester, the guy you keep around for strategic reasons. These court poets spiced the royal kraal with humour, for who doesn't enjoy laughing?
They thrived by painting a surreal world for the king every day, downplaying and trivialising the harsh reality.
But they also have a higher value in a monarchical system. First, they are channels through which the king funnels out what he thinks are unpopular decisions and which if rejected awfully, he will step in and reverse. No one will know, except a few in his court, that he was part and parcel of that decision.
Valuable purpose
Secondly, over time, as the jesters roll downhill and gathers mould, they come to serve another valuable purpose to the king – that of a diversionary object.
You see very soon, because of contradictions and gaffes, they become the objects of national anger. So in this awkward position, he serves a nice role for the king; that of diverting the rotten eggs away from him.
But when they are no longer serving this role well, they are removed by the King.
This is is because they have an expiry date, and as comedians of repute in the laughter industry, like Churchill, would tell you, one of the hardest jobs on earth is that of making people laugh.
Sorry to digress, but I read somewhere that one of the hardest jobs on earth is found in a sperm bank, but luckily they haven't opened branches in Kenya yet.
Thirdly, you need these characters not just for the ornamental value of self-amusement and deflection of mudballs, but to also satisfy a political constituency.
Indeed, there is no doubt that their presence at the king's breakfast table every day makes his community feel and perceive themselves as an appendage of the royalty. It gave them the attitude of co-owners of the crown, not miserly subjects being lectured every day.
So this week and with due respect to Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Ole Lenku, I found myself bemused by the chorus by Coalition for Reforms and Democracy leaders led by Mr Raila Odinga, and some other politicians in Jubilee who want to be seen as neutral, pushing for this man to be fired.
But let us step back, starting with Kibaki's administration where his spokesman, who underwent an extreme makeover, and is now the Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua, perfectly executed this role, capping with his weekly banter before cameras at KICC.
When Kibaki's henchmen wanted to communicate something nasty to Raila, trust Mutua to deliver it shrilly, but even if he made you grit your teeth, the message would sink.
I don't remember hearing Raila respond to Mutua except during the protocol wars with his 'friend' Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka. In fact throughout, Raila engaged Kibaki and ignored these two because he knew whose mouthpieces they were.
Secondly, it was Kibaki who picked them and if he had a choice, Kalonzo should never have been in Cabinet.
The likes of Mutua have a supporting but more hawkish cast, and in Kibaki's first term two other guys excelled until the Anglo Leasing hot potato stuck in their throats, choking and silencing them: Kiraitu Murungi and Chris Murungaru. Under Mzee Daniel Arap Moi's government you had Joseph Kamotho and many others, but this one was the master of the game.
Under the first Kenyatta, there was Mbiyu Koinange, the educated man who dedicated all his days to being on the side of the man who married his sister.
I don't know if is true, but I remember a claim that after Jomo died, Mbiyu would frequently ask his driver to pull to the side. Apparently after being driven in a motorcade complete with outriders that long, he never saw oncoming traffic and every road seemed to be one-way. Now he was seeing vehicles coming to crash into him.
Yes, for me, and which I deferred to this point, Lenku has some challenges, starting with little experience in public office. You need to be in Government to know what it means to work through a maze.
So the man is still trying to get his way around after his docket was expanded a zillion times more than the Utalii Hotel (or was it college?) It doesn't help that Uhuru saw no need to dismantle Kibaki's tribal fibre inside Government.
Triggers gun
Secondly, Lenku seems to speak before getting a final assessment of a situation by the technocrats and field guys.
This is a syndrome common to beginners, and that is why in athletics, they are sent off for getting off the block before the starter triggers the gun. They suffer from fear of failure and with nerves and mind in turmoil over anxiety, they hear sounds others don't and take off.
The way I see it, and I am not saying Lenku is doing his work well, for he could do better, this shambolic security apparatus we have is beyond him. He may be the mouthpiece of what the boss doesn't want take responsibility for directly, but surely he is not his own boss. I learnt this when the President addressed the nation live on television to confirm where Lenku, and obviously Mr David Kimaiyo, get their script.
Political prize
Yes, as things are, even if Kimaiyo and Lenku were to go, the "system" as we know it would remain intact, and very soon we shall also be demanding the head of his replacement. I doubt if Raila doesn't see this, but I guess he is looking for a political prize, something to show that Uhuru and Ruto have yielded a bit, in which case Lenku and his ilk would be mere sacrificial lambs and victims of tokenism.
What Kenya needs is far bigger, deeper and well-thought out. For sure, just trawling through social media tells you how badly Jubilee is doing on this score, and even Senators Kithure Kindiki and Kipchumba Murkomen are saying so.
If Uhuru and Ruto can't trust what they are being told, they would at least listen to these two because they have no other interest than to see the political status quo retained, for that is what made and keeps them in the royal kraal.
The writer is Group Managing Editor, Print at The Standard
ktanui@standardmedia.co.ke
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