Yesterday morning,(14th December) Robert Alai,the national provocateur, publicly shared The President’s personal phone number; including that of the Deputy President and of 2 high-ranking state house mandarins. And then all hell broke loose.
Robert Alai is not new to controversy. He wears the cap perfectly. And so when he shared the private phone numbers of the Nation’s leaders( something he has done before,anyway) a section of The President’s buffoonish supporters raided his virtual house,baying for his blood,calling for his immediate arrest and even worse,suggesting that he DESERVED to be assassinated! What nonsense!
Alai,I want to believe,didn’t share out the contacts out of malice or ill-will. He never does,anyway. I am pressed to believe that Alai shared out the contacts out of what he felt was the Government’s laxity in dealing with the cataclysmic Kainuk disaster.
For close to 5 days now,angry residents of Kainuk,in Turkana have blockaded a road causing a monumental traffic jam of over 300 cars for what they said was insecurity in the area. And as we speak,hundreds of innocent people have been held hostage in the village of Kainuk,unable to proceed with their travels,unable to find water or food or sanitation even triggering attention from The Red Cross.
All this is a result of the injudicious actions of the incensed Kainuk residents who,after blocking a whole road with debris and felled trees,decided that the road can only be re-opened for public use after none less than THE PRESIDENT himself shows up and addresses the volatile situation. This has plunged hundreds of Kenyans into a quagmire…Including defenseless women and children.
Robert Alai,therefore, must have acted out of desperation and frustration with the Governments sluggish response to the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe.
But after publicizing the hallowed President’s phone number,and those of his deputy and 2 other Government operatives,Alai was met with the harshest and vilest comments and acidic reactions from an irate section of Social Media’s Jubilee Constituency.
As usual,Alai was called names after names,harangued and berated,abused and ridiculed and,as usual,too,had his manhood,and that of his community,dragged,yet again,to the histrionics. And an hour later,rumors of Alai’s arrest started spreading.
It was a shameful display of hardheadedness and arrogance by the peppery Jubilee support gang.
Hasn’t the President HIMSELF always encouraged us to reach out to him? In whichever ways?? Hasn’t he always fashioned himself as the ever-accessible Man Of The People? Ofcourse,He has!
Kenyatta has never hidden his desire to want to be accessed. Or talked to. Or approached.
Since his inauguration,The President and his not-so-amiable Deputy have carved out this “We Will Always Be With You” image. Appearing in public doing what no President has ever done…Including taking a Matatu ride to state house,posing for selfies, hugging compete strangers in rallies and inviting talented whizkids to state house,Kenyatta has almost always told us to try as much as possible to reach him. Without fear.
And who can forget the amazing story of one Anita Iminza Lipesa who, after a series of unsuccessful harambees,decided to send The President a text message asking him to help her family pay off a colossal hospital bill for their deceased sister Caroline Lipesa Muhati.
Ms Caroline Lipesa’s body had been detained at the Nairobi Women’s Mortuary for close to two months over the Family’s failure to pay up the Sh.3.5 Million bill she had accumulated.
Unable to pay up the bill or,even worse,collect their sisters body for burial,Anita sat down one morning and sent Uhuru Kenyatta a text message asking him to help the family offset the bill. And amazingly,The President called a short 30 minutes later,asking Anita to go collect her sisters body as the humongous bill had been taken care of!
Who gave Ms. Anita Uhuru Kenyatta’s number?? Was it Robert Alai?? And if it was,doesn’t that mean that Alai’s efforts yielded positive results??
Also,if Alai didn’t give Anita the President’s number,who did?? And why wasn’t Anita “arrested” for texting the President??
Also,by heeding to Anita’s call and answering her pleas through such an unorthodox manner as a direct Presidential phone call,didn’t Uhuru Kenyatta encourage us that it as Okay to text him with all manner of our problems?? However trivial or personal??
And if Uhuru Kenyatta found Anita’s plight worthy of attention and an immediate phone call,even though it was a private family matter,wouldn’t he also respond as quickly to the much grander and national issue as the Kainuk tragedy??
But according to the irascible Uhuru-Ruto supporters,sharing The President and His Deputy’s Contacts across Social Media is as sacrilegious a move as desecrating a holy shrine. To them,Alai committed a blasphemy. And to others,He had crossed the line and,for that,he reserved immediate arrest,detention,torture and death.
Phelix G-cord shows support to Alai
George Nyongesa attempts to reason
What crap! I read the hundreds of comments with horror and disbelief, shocked that a section of Jubilee supporters could be so callous and moronic even calling for the warrantless gagging and execution of a simple social media fellow.
The President is OUR PROPERTY. A national property. Not the prize of a few demented individuals with the hearts of pigs and the patience of demons.
In fact,on May 10 2014,State House itself publicly issued 2 phone numbers through which Kenyans could reach The Presidency via Whatsaap. The phone numbers were extensively distributed across Social Media with the President’s handlers creating quite a hullabaloo about it.
But alas! Kumbe that was all a stupid gimmick! To date,the phone numbers ain’t working and their Whatsaap account,evidently,was NEVER even activated!
If You search these contacts on Whatsapp 0773777888 or 0700681813,You won’t find them! Even after the noise and empty razzmatazz from State House. It was all for show.
The President MUST tell Kenyans whether he needs us to reach him via phone or not. He must tell us whether it is right to call him or not. He must tell us whether we are allowed to,by phone,access him or not.
Too many mixed signals.
But I am sure the President doesn’t quite mind having his phone number shared across Social Media. It is his diehard, tyrannical supporters who,actually,need to behave and calm down.
Robert Alai was NOT wrong. He committed NO crime. Infact,the people who actually deserved arrest were the spiteful commenters on his page. The people spewing trivial,tribal and ethnic insults towards Alai and his community at large. The people balkanizing a whole community and dragging manhood cultural issues into play.
We MUST learn to get things right! And identify the REAL criminals!
Obviously,We’re glad he wasn’t arrested. We’d be astounded if he was.
And this one….quite a gem
