BY: OSUGO MOSETI
July 30th 2008 is the day Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta would love to erase from his memory. Mr. Kenyatta was on official duty in London when he got a rare opportunity to be interviewed by BBC’s Stephen Sucker host of the famed program  Hard Talk.
The show is best known for the tough and direct questions posed by the Oxford and Harvard educated host. To succeed in the show, one must be original and honest; often guests who resort to academic answers perform poorly.
Watching the show again, leaves no doubt that Uhuru has no decorum, flair, sophistication and style to display and portray his own country in good light.
One cannot fail to note how devastating it was for Hon. Kenyatta- he displayed arrogance, avoided almost all the questions and resorted to reframing questions to suit his line of thinking.
Despite his international academic sojourn, Uhuru has become diluted by Kenya’s political system, and has picked the bad manners of Kenya’s political class of the past. Uhuru is now just a politician who is part of the crowd, and therefore fails to bring a new style, character, modernity and substance into Kenya’s political stable.
As you watch this video, it will become clear that during the interview, he demonstrated a lack of courtesy and can be seen to be interjecting almost every question the host tried to put across.
Uhuru needs to know; that humans have 2 ears and 1 mouth for a reason, he should listen twice as much as he talks.
Of interest were questions on land reform, rigged elections, Mungiki, MPs salaries and the TJRC which Uhuru seemed not to understand its role. Just watch and judge for yourself.
Millie Okatch says
read my fellow kenyans.
MiriamQueen Nyakadero says
Awuoro
Chogo Nya Karuoth Halima says
Omako ma dhoga!!
Rashid Wanjala says
this is hillarious https://www.kenya-today.com/opinion/kibaki-legacy-is-a-product-of-betrayal-and-a-tireless-effort-by-raila-odinga
Anne Kimani says
Old stuff; overtaken by event; lets move on.
Chogo Nya Karuoth Halima says
When you have a relative living in IDP, or lost one in a the church, or was hailed with bullets in kibera or kisumu, or was raped and impregnated and contracted HIV, then your theory of event being overtaken will not hold a substantial point at all. Lets not tribalism bury us my fellow kenyans, its time to wake up. When push comes to shove, Uhuru will be in a position to fly his family out of kenya, same to Raila and all other senior government officials, when me or you and any other ordinary kenyan will be left to die, so wake up.
Anonymous says
Osugu Moseti,if you could leave out what is so apparent in your mind,(sectoral thinking)and you allowed the education you should have room,then it will be clear that Uhuru Kenyatta did well in the interview.Did you want to know how much land the Kenyattas own?Do you want to suggest that Mugabe is not part of the solution in Zimbambwe?Have you heard of actors in the political scene??And am not alluding to plays,but to the working of politics….Mugabe is an actor…he has role to play and cannot be excluded.
You mention courtesy….Hard talk is a hot seat.If you were fielding the questions as a representative of the country,am so sure you would have been a disaster.You may not believe me….but in you tube you can look at how the Pakistan&Iran presidents were rated for separate interviews.Why not try answer the questions asked on the interview and give yourself some honest rating.
Tact was needed here and Uhuru did it.
Better still ask the interviewer how he rated that talk.After this you will begin the process of appreciating and understanding interviews.
Best of luck.
Dicky Droo Okello says
Crass responses to intellectual questions..arrogance and lack of leadership ability.voting him is a disaster to Kenya's international relations.
benard says
mmmhh! I see no arrogance here, what I see is Uhuru fumbling around or a tactical leader who chose to take a hardline in answering question and of course giving him the benefit of doubt, that was the period our country was in turmoil,no one had proper answers to many question, I mean how do you explain he tried his best and I do not see anything wrong especially from the answers he gave…
ngaruiyagitau says
Moseti…I have gone a step further and made it easier for you.
Please acquaint yourself with an interview aptly titled “this is how a leader speaks” on you tube.
It features Ahmadinejad and Musharraf.
lesson taken????????
Brian matara says
Uhuru is a leader and we do love him,those who criticise him should tell us what achievement they have made.
Deek Hurtz says
uhuru shredded the so called harvard scholar to pieces.
Amani Jo says
"Shredded??" You mean by him being arrogant in the usual Kenyan fashion because no one in Kenya dares to ask him such hard questions? He was so evasive and showed no class at all in his answers and I wouldn't call that shredding anyone. If anything he was so touchy like the interviewer was touching a "raw nerve" somewhere. He was overly defensive and if you 'noticed,' he refused to talk about issues like the gap between what parliamentarians like him earn ($18,000/m) and what the average Kenyan earns ($400/yr). He actually thinks it's okay so long as they pay taxes!! What Kenyan in their right mind would even support such reasoning???
Deek Hurtz says
yes he shredded and completely embarassed the hard talk fellow..exactly like he did to ocampo
Amani Jo says
Wow… you indeed are one of UK's blind followers because like him you will try to avoid the real issues. It shouldn't be about which 'boy' throws the "best" jabs in the school playground because that's childish. It should be about who made the most sense and believe you me, to an objective mind it most certainly wasn't your hero but hey… keep drinking the koolaid, you are not alone.
Deek Hurtz says
i am a proud UK/TNA follower..unlike yu fake ODoMer heckling propagandist..no iota of credible evidence against UK..ZERO..lemmi giv yu a challenge..produce an honest print out of the interview..we review who sed wat..here is one where yo god failed miserably remember this?
http://youtu.be/FucaiXwKh1k
Amani Jo says
Amazing indeed how sycophants see the world so narrowly. Do you honestly believe that anyone who points out your god's shortfalls must be an ODM worshipper? I've seen the same narrow-minded attitude with ODM sycophants. Unfortunately it's people like all of you who are retarding Kenya's growth because you are so blinded by your worship of politicians. It's that same attitude that gets sycophants to hate and even kill each other for their favorite politicians who don't care one iota about them. How pitiful it is to be that blind!
Deek Hurtz says
like i sed mob talk zero evidence..bartalk and mboch gossip aint helpful at all..UKs achievementsfor a very short stint is clear..and there are plenty of credible links to prove it..however there is ZERO evidence against UK just the kawa mboch gossip eti he grabbed this..that..hizo tumeskia tangu tuzaliwe..what is Orengo doing in recovering UK grabbed land??..oh..he was compromised too ama??
Wanambisi Njalale Samuel says
:)
Anonymous says
ths is past lets focus fellow kenyans.c the positive of aleader n try 2 correct hs negatve but dont over exagerate.every one has a weakness .after all they hsted hm coz they knew he was worth n it cld ave been worse was it any other kenyan.kudos prz
Simon Ndegwa says
wen all kno that raila at the time was seen as an angle, but he was deep into what happened in this country in 2008, the questions were framed in a manner to show kibaki govt, as not the peoples govt.but the was devide in two, this is a 2008 vid.Uhuru kenyatta has passed through great metamophisis since then, and every one knows that raila is the preffered candidate by the western world not because he is the peoples choice, but because of their self intrests on our raw materials and RAILA is only key for them to get to them.the western world is in for a scare first because of using the ICC to derail our preffered candidate, secondly, RAILA is part and parcel of the current govt.of kenya.What are his achievements? that's goes to stephen sucker seems to have all data abt our beloved country kenya? last question to stephen, did you really expect, to be be at its all high in the darkest year of the country? britain is also going through the global crisis currently and it all started back 2008, hallo stephen part of our tourism comes from britain.we are now clever than we were then.
Evenings George Orwa says
Much verbal expression with no meaning…try English sir or Kiswahili…you have a point but I cant understand the language above!!
Simon Ndegwa says
@gorge you have a point and surely i'll better my english,but i still believe,TNA URP is the way to go its a show of peace and stability,on the other hand i hope Raila and ODM comes clean on the icc,i remember Raila saying its one tribe against 41.i'm from molo that explains you why im so passionate abt an RUTO UHURU ticket,
Evenings George Orwa says
My fren tribal politics not only, not good for the country but not good for you…it will derail your positive thinking by the time it is done with you will be a mess..y dont you think Peter Kenneth stands a better chance!!!
Amani Jo says
@Ndegwa… hopefully your memory serves you correctly because it's still fresh in the minds of many Kenyans that in the last elections Uhuru's and Ruto's followers slaughtered each other mercilessly and that's what Uhuru was referring to when he was talking about Rift Valley.
Deek Hurtz says
so what is team ODoMer hecklers doing apart from juvenile propaganda and childish theatrics?
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.386226098119210.89934.135851226490033&type=1
oletipis joseph says
george orwo mind your language,there is no one single day will kenyans dream of giving raila presidency. reasons; kibera his constituency luos his kinsmen are in other tribes houses under his authority n watchiful eyes! there is nothing he has done for kibera residence namely road water n sanitation fling toilets n electricity to mention a few. what can he do for abig country like kenya?
james koskei says
uhuru kenyatta is not tainted by coruption. best suited for presidency. stop i c c speculations we as pple of kenya have votes in our pockets n we will decide no matter what!
Arap Teya-Kipchang says
What is decorum when all it does is to frame one as an accomplice in the tearing apart of a nation? In this interview, Uhuru Kenyatta came out in full force in total defense. I totally agree that he shredded the Harvard Scholar with stature, and pride that only emanates from one who is to become the future President of KENYA…..
Paul Ndungu Kariuki says
You may like or hate him, but the guy actually surprised me. For a guy who has been described as lazy and a drunkard he has quite a good understanding of the Kenya situation than the so called Harvard scholar who apparently relies on social media and comments such as the one by Osugo Moseti who appear to be outright based. He actually reminded me of his father who 82 years ago was able to face the same Mzungu and tell him off. I'm not sure whether Osugo expected UK to humble himself and feel inferior or intimidated by the harvard scholar. The so called Harvard scholar himself couldn't even wait for answer to his own questions and he seemed to want to implant hi own answers and purport them to be Uks.
Tomie says
I agree this is definitely not Uhuru’s best interview! He is much better when he can keep his cool. However the interview is outright hostile and Uhuru is never given room to answer fully but intercepted as soon as he starts explaining something. Dear Osugo, educational background got nothing to do with this! Yes, Uhuru is a different person today then he was when he first came back to Kenya but don’t be fooled it is still a lot of the old Uhuru in him! If you want to hear a really dumb comment listen to Raila explaining the burning of women and children in Kiambaa church on the same talk show!!!
Waweru Wa Kamau says
If someone asks you when you started crawling,what do u answer?
fred maeba says
point taken
Maggie says
Uhuru is the best.