This archive report was first published on 19 July 2019.
Published on July 19, 2019, by Gabriel Oguda
Kenya's love affair with controversy is well-documented. We thrive on dramatic and hollow politicians, and our social media feeds are filled with experts on everything from quantum physics to voodoo dolls.
However, when it comes to public officials, we often display a double standard. We spare the worst adjectives for private immorality, but gloss over or make excuses for lack of public ethics.
Take the case of Esther Arunga, a former television anchor and lawyer, who is facing time behind bars for lying to the court regarding the circumstances surrounding her son's death. Kenyans' reaction was explosive, with many passing judgment on her personal morality and motherhood instincts.
But what about the pressing national issues threatening to wind up this country and put us in the league of failed states? We aren't concerned that maize flour is about to become more expensive than ignorance, or that governors are warning us that counties are now more broke than a church mouse.
Instead, we have preoccupied ourselves with Esther's personal tribulations, discussing her case passionately and featuring her on the trending charts every day of the past week. The commentaries on Esther have been nasty, brutish, and long, with some reminding us to let her shower in her own tears and save our bear hugs for sickly pets in animal orphanages.
But when it comes to breach of public trust by government officials, the raw enthusiasm begins to dissipate, especially when it's our tribal tin-god who's being carved apart for carting away public funds for personal use. We not only glorify looters but also reward them with high office, and when they're thrown in jail, their supporters get touchy and start issuing threats.
It's time for Kenyans to direct their bile elsewhere and focus on the pressing national issues that threaten our country's growth and economic development. If only we dedicated every day of the week to judging the performance of public officials, Kenyans would already have known the identity of the stowaway who died in that KQ flight to London, what happened to the fake billions found in a bank's strong room months ago, and why a former Mungiki leader is masquerading as a defender of the common man.
