Messy year ahead as Dikembe-Gaitho social media beef starts again
By Shem Mukalo
Those who thought that 2015 would usher in a rapproachment between Dikembe Disembe and Macharia Gaitho ought to have themselves examined.Purveyors of bitter truths with national profiles,the two already had their loaded guns trained on each other.
Macharia Gaitho is not your average columnist,he minces no words.But Dikembe Disembe is no slouch,if anything, he’s worse; he thrives in trading fire and ruffling feathers of the high and mighty with the impudence and viciousness of a seasoned blogger, hardened by battle.
With nerves of iron and balls of brass, he has voraciously devoured the likes of Miguna Miguna,Mugo wa Wairimu and Cabu Gah as if they are a delicious meal of eggs and Ugali;the pinnacle of his gastronomic pleasures .
“I just love eggs,” he once told me when I paid him a courtesy call at Capitol Hill where Odinga’s and ODM’s offices are housed.
The bushy-faced Nation Media Editor and columnist got more than what he bargained for sometimes last year when he accused Dikembe of bigotry:
” “Dikembe Disembe, I wish you’d rid yourself
of this perpetually bigoted mindset. That
thinking limited to ethnic baiting is no credit
to your political party and its leadershipâ€
This was triggered by a post that the left-leaning blogger(Dikembe) made regarding the possibility of Joseph Nkaissery succeeding the clueless Ole Lenku.He post was thus:
“It was Murithi Mutiga who first mooted
this scandalous idea of President Uhuru
appointing Joseph Nkaissery as Interior
Cabinet Secretary. I wait to get the (kikuyu)
thinking behind it from Macharia Franjes
Gaitho. Ha ha ha!â€
In a bid to renew their beef this New Year,Macharia Gaitho penned an unmistakably hard-edged assessment of the state’s response to what he dubbed “Social Media Terrorists” dragging the name of Dikembe Disembe with impunity,drawing parallels with the likes of Mugo wa Wairimu and company.In a fittingly contemptuous response,Dikembe termed the comparison as “…the sickest joke of the year”.He posted:
Macharia Franjes Gaitho , comparing what I post
on Facebook and What Mugo wa Wairimu posts
on Facebook is the sickest joke of the year.
Pick any number of posts I have made and
those of your son, if you can’t compare, give it
to an independent person near you to do so
He also differed with Gaitho on the characterization of Allan Wadi as a blogger terming it a misnomer.He wrote:
“And Macharia Franjes Gaitho , Alan Wadi was
not a blogger. He was a just a Kenyan miffed
with a government he pays his taxes to and a
president he recognized long time ago as the
head of state of the republic of Kenya. Let’s
keep it that simple.”
This escalation marks a new and unprecedented crescendo that has taken the eerie hue of a thriller,not on silver screen,but in virtual reality.Eiiish!A cold beer will do!