PRINCE UHURU MUST REALIZE THAT HE IS NOW PRESIDENT
By Dorcas S
When old Jomo Kenyatta became president back in the 60s, he had just cuffed a village girl by the name Ngina. It soon dawned on everybody around the president that for Ngina to effectively play the role of first lady, she needed help to ensure the ushamba in her is exorcised.No one could blame her. Those days almost everyone was a mshamba.
She needed to be tutored and groomed to fit the queenly status she was now holding in society. After consultations by those around the president, it was decided that Elizabeth Madoka the wife of Jomo ‘s Aide Marsden Madoka would take the up the role groming Ngina and transforming her from a mshamba to a first lady.
Elizabeth’s work was cut out for her. She taught Ngina how to walk with dignity, how to dress decently and according to the occassion, how to conjure up small talk with dignitaries, how to behave infront of government officials and how to respond to the the press or speak in public.
The first african first lady of Kenya was also taught basic etiquette. Elizabeth’s pedagogy straddled subjects of table manners; when to serve food, how to serve it and where to stand when serving someone. Ngina was taught things we consider normal these days like how to chew food quietly, holding the folk with the left hand and not talking with food in the mouth.
Looking at Mama Ngina today its fair to say she was a great student and a quick learner. Its therefore expected that she would have passed all the lessons she had imbibed from Elizabeth to her own son Uhuru Muigai wa Kenyatta. Am afraid that is not the case. For someone born in what we would christen a palace, Uhunye of late does not act, speak or behave like someone who had the aristocratic breeding expected of anyone who grows up in the palace. His behaviour is centuries away from princely.
His supporters can deny it publicly but even they secretly admit that lately, the president seem to be shouldering the weight of the bottle in public. His eyes also have hallmarks of burning ‘plants.’ They are like a furnace and would light a match stick if one lacked a match box.
The president no longer acts presidential. He does not speak anymore. He does not even shout. He howls like a pied crow. His emotions are perpetually out of control. Sometimes he giggles sheepishly like a teenager and other times laughs wildly with his feet in the air, hands clapping like a thespian on weed. Behaviours usually reserved for the market place, those dimly lit smoky locals or jobless corner.
He does not talk with people. He talks at them. The amount of vitriolic invectives spewing out of the president can clog a sewer. Old Jomo used to say unprintables like Kumanina zenu. Now we see that the fruit never falls far away from the tree. Our president no longer even walks with dignity. He just ambles away. To be fair to him, Obama also ambles…but with some swag. He is also too touchy in one on one conversations.
But above all, he lacks the diplomatic demeanor and etiquette that is a prerequisite for the office he holds. He talks more than he listens. He is hasty to make serious decisions like he did by pulling Kenyan soldiers from Southern Sudan the other day. His talk at the Jubilee Party NGC was to say the least unpresidential. He lacks grace and patience. He judges before analyzing the issues. He is simply not acting presidential. He is acting pedestrian.
Those around the president must start making him appear and behave presidential. They must remind him that he is the number one paragon for kids, that he is the number one paragon for husbands, that he is the number one paragon for fathers and that he is the number one diplomat. He must learn to have some grace. To think before acting and above all to be presidential.
He has better education and exposure than Mama Ngina yet he pales in comparison to the queen that is Ngina. He dresses, looks and behaves like those spoilt boys who happen to be princes in Nolloywood blockbusters. The boys who dress raggedly, are rude to everyone and always want to jab all the female servants in the palace. They act with impunity and drive everyone nuts. President Uhuru must look around and see how other presidents dress, look and behave. Its not too late for him to change. After all , we can say it together, ‘Raira wiro nefa be prisident!’
Imboko Tall.
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