This archive report was first published on 2 September 2019.
On September 2, 2019, Joseph ole Lenku, Governor of Kajiado, a county plagued by rural poverty and low literacy levels, allegedly spent Ksh22 million ($212,500) on a review of his performance over the past two years.
However, the event was not a genuine review, but rather a re-enactment of the 'deification and personalisation' of power, a phenomenon first performed by the cast of so-called founding fathers.
These leaders, including Jomo Kenyatta, Kamuzu Banda, Kenneth Kaunda, and Kwame Nkrumah, have been deified by their citizens, who cheer and dance in their honor, but this has led to the emasculation and poverty of the people.
As noted by Ali Mazrui, the 'deification and personalisation of power' has resulted in African presidents being treated like living gods, with their faces appearing on currency bills, streets, and schools named after them.
But this phenomenon is not limited to the past; today's leaders are also aspiring to vainglory, with crowds dancing and cheering their exaltation, just as their parents and grandparents did.
It is a disheartening experience to watch these videos of frenzied crowds performing an ode to their own emasculation and poverty, and the impoverishment of us, their children and grandchildren.
