We all Succumbed To Standard Group’s SILAS NYANCHWANI’S Taunt On Kikuyus. His Was To Market His Blog, And He Managed To Do It

When Silas Nyanchwani of the Standard Group Limited sat down in his crib, house, office or wherever he taunted Kikuyus from, his mind was already floating on the idea of how his blog could go viral in a span of a moment. And indeed he managed to hit the nail on the head.

Kenya is a very ethnic state. We all know that and we have failed to change that because of the deadly disease we are suffering from; ethnic jingoism, ethnic myopia. This is a disease that no one has ever managed to cure. Not even the best doctors on earth.

Silas Nyanchwani is one of us. Infact he is my fellow tribesman. We share the same disease. The same ethnic disease, to be precise.

Silas Nyanchwani

That said, Nyanchwani understands quite well what him and I are suffering from. That is why he managed to hit the headlines in a span of a moment, by attacking us from our weakest point.

For those who still do not know what Nyanchwani said don’t worry. I will let you know, though briefly. Nyanchwani in his blog nyanchwani.wordpress.com, had landed on the Kikuyu community with much precision, with a thud and with verve and vigor.

He took issue with how the Kikuyus cooked their meals and specifically their favourite meal, Mukimo. Nyanchwani sounded so disappointed that Kikuyus cooked what he termed the worst meal. He added further insult that Kikuyus were the worst cooks he has ever come across. Ooh that was insulting.

Mukimo

But as foolish as we are, we simply succumbed to Nyanchwani’s plan. At the end of the day, he closed down his computer, smiling all the way to his dining table and later to bed, knowing very well that he had achieved his day’s agenda: that of marketing himself and his blog famous.

Kenya, for a long time has been divided along tribal lines, thanks to the huge political differences preying on us each day. So Nyanchwani knew what could make Kenyans visit his blog more than any other on that particular day; a simple divide and rule policy.

He started his strategy shrewdly. Attacking Kikuyus, who make the largest population in the country was his first step. He knew this could be an achievement on his side because he could touch many Agikuyu.

That perfectly worked out on his favour. I saw it from my desk where I work from, because my immediate colleague hails from Central Kenya. His reaction after seeing the blog was scary . Look at it here:http://iraringugi.com/nyanchwani-mukimo-isnt-bad/ He had been hit below the belt. So were all Kikuyus.

Nyanchwani then went on to ‘incite’ all the other tribes against  Kikuyus’ Mukimo. This he did by praising meals prepared by other tribes as he poured cold water on Mukimo, a Kikuyu’s favourite meal. By doing this, Nyanchwani made Kikuyus look the worst cooks the earth has ever produced. The rest of the 41 tribes in Kenya looked the perfect cooks on earth. Better than Capital Club’s renowned Italian cook Luigi Frascella.

Luigi Frascella at work

Nyanchwani finally made sure that the article went very viral by giving it the publicity it deserved. Blogs copied and pasted it on their sites. One such blog which has proved to be anti-Jubilee is Dikembe Disembe’s Kenya Today. It published the article and made it circulate like handouts given during the electioneering period.

Dikembe Disembe, who happens to be my fellow alumnus from Moi University, is a household name. He is well known for his stern criticism of the Jubilee government. His following on the social media is massive. He is controversial, and that perhaps has helped to sell him to Kenyans. When he posts anything on the social media, the responses are massive. Nyanchwani’s article therefore got several visits through Dikembe Disembe.

Dikembe Disembe, ODM activist

Unfortunately, we all could not detect Nyanchwani’s strategy. We succumbed to his ideologies and effectively got preyed by his predatory article. A scholar once said, ‘a chameleon can change colours to escape a predator but cannot change colours to escape a wild fire’. Nyanchwani’s was a wild fire. It caught us. It burnt us.

Kikuyus got raged with Nyanchwani’s article. The rest of Kenya got amazed and excited about it. This was possible because of the divisions we have created amongst ourselves. Ethnic divisions. Ethnic jingoism. Ethnic myopia.

Nyanchwani has tried to justify his article by claiming that the Mukimo article was just the beginning. That he was planning to write and criticise every meal by every community. That is a lie of course but the damage is already done. It is a lie because in his article he had praised meals prepared by our (Nyanchwani and I) tribesmen (abagusii), Luos, Luhyas, the Coastal people and many others and strongly criticised Mukimo.

That is what political differences, tribalism and ethnic stereotypes can do to a third-world nation.