…of TOUTS, POLITICIANS and GODLY LEADERS (Galatians 5:22-23)

DP William Ruto in a tout-like maroon
jacket. PHOTO/File

…of TOUTS, POLITICIANS and GODLY LEADERS (Galatians 5:22-23)

A

 few weeks ago, I wrote a scathing article for an international newsletter and guess what; it touched raw nerves in the systems of some of the most powerful men in the world today, or so I am told. In that piece of literary work, I espoused the similarity between two professions, of which practitioners in both have habitually become either desperately poor or unimaginably wealthy, within a span of very little time; to the delight or consternation of their respective fans or haters.

The first group of ‘professionals’ - the touts - is comprised of these mostly not very stylishly groomed fellows, who will be found around any bus stop or station in Kenya. Their self-appointed job is to call out to commuters and getting busy pointing out to them the right matatu  (Public Service Vehicle – PSV) to board. They are most operational around those bus stops frequented by several competing matatus at a go, and masses of commuters at any given time. The most annoying thing with this clique is that they seem to take all people for fools, for they will coerce you to board a certain vehicle, only for it to dilly dally around for minutes on end while other vehicles come by and go while you watch. All the time you had perhaps identified the most suitable vehicle to board but got influenced by their pressure, and did their bidding, if only to have some peace of mind

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A tout at work, in his maroon uniform. PHOTO/Archives

Unfortunately, once you are tricked into getting aboard, it will be very hard to alight and get into any other matatu that could possibly be making earlier departure. If you do that, they will mark you and ensure that you don’t get into another vehicle easily, so you end up wasting even more time, getting more impatient and angry. The most disgusting thing is that these guys will urge you “twende na hii! ya mbele!  ya mbele!” (Let’s board this one! car number one! car number one!), like they would be travelling with you, yet they don’t board. They remain behind and vouch for the next ‘well paying’ vehicle. After all the ado, they do earn coins and sometimes notes from the matatus’ ‘staff’, for fooling commuters into filling up the matatus at the expense of the passengers’ time. After getting aboard, any attempt by the passengers to complain of delay is met with rude statements like, “Kama uko na haraka sana, ungekuja jana” (If you were in such a hurry, you would have come yesterday). And guess what, some of these fellows have through persistence, consistency and mostly force, raised through the ranks to become matatu owners themselves. So does it work with politics and politicians in Kenya today; only that matatus in this case are political movements such as ‘Tangatanga’ and ‘Kieleweke’. In this respect, when you hear some of our political leaders refer to themselves as ‘hustlers’, do not be surprised, for some have risen from such lowly ‘professions’ to big offices in our political systems through such shenanigans.

President Kenyatta (left shakes hands with Governor Wambora
in a past photo (during campaign time). the two leaders share
common vision. PHOTO/File

Still, we have those among our political leaders who have come to hold enviable positions in the nation’s leadership through their long-suffering, faithfulness and goodness. This latter caliber of politicians comprises of those leaders who will currently be found to be focusing on delivering on their manifestos to their respective electorates. Among them is the president of the republic of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta and the other one is the governor of Embu County, Nyaga Wambora. These leaders are concentrating on making life more pleasant for the common man, as opposed to 2022 succession politics. The two men are doing this through their Big 4 and Big 6 Agendas respectively. One common agenda in these two leaders’ vision is Universal Healthcare. Having determined that a healthy people is a wealthy nation, the two leaders continue to exhibit gentleness, peace and self-control in their leadership, thereby giving forth fruits of the Holy Spirit for their people (Galatians 5:22-23).