Civil society now turns to using animals to express their anger

It began with the well known human rights activist, Boniface Mwangi, leading a group of fellow activists in dumping pigs splattered with blood at the main entrance of the National Assembly.

Their aim? To make a graphic statement about Kenyan MPs’ greed. For good measure, they carried placards with the writing, “MPigs”. The method might have been distasteful, but there is no doubt that it left a lasting impression.

Then came Mr John Wamagata with his Operation Ondoa Panya. Mr Wamagata has been carrying a bag of live rats to various county assemblies in a campaign against members of county assemblies (MCAs) for their misuse of county funds on sitting allowances and foreign travel.

During a visit to the Machakos County Assembly, Mr Wamagata likened MCAs to sewer rats. The human rights activist said the MCAs “behave in a gluttonous way, just like sewer rats”.

Then, early this month, some activists, taking a cue from the protest using pigs, unleashed a herd of donkeys on a street in Nairobi. They carried out the act on the day fundamental changes to the country’s security laws were to be made in the National Assembly, which was also a day before Kenya marked 51 years of independence.

The message on the beasts of burden’s backs was simple: Tumechoka! (We are tired). And, as if to show that words alone were not enough, some of the beasts of burden lay down on the ground as if exhausted.

ANIMAL SYMBOLISM
This use of animal symbolism is perhaps best captured by renowned English author George Orwell in his classic and timeless novel, The Animal Farm.

There is one memorable saying from this allegorical novel that is often used in political as well as non-political circles to express the inequalities in society: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

It refers to a law enacted to guide animal behaviour on the farm that originally read, “All animals are equal”, but which was mischievously, and without the knowledge or consent of the other animals, amended by pigs to read, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

By so doing, they arrogated to themselves certain privileges to which they were not originally entitled.

For instance, the greedy and cunning pigs styled themselves as leaders and schemed to get themselves blankets when there was a law expressly prohibiting animals from using blankets.

They did this at the expense of the other obedient and loyal animals, which did not question the conduct of their leaders.

POLITICAL MESSAGES
The Kiswahili version of the book has a character known as Mtiki, who has a standard answer to other animals whenever they complain about their leader, Mkimwa: “Tutajitahidi zaidi, Mkimwa yu sahihi (We will work harder, Mkimwa is right).”

But for all his loyalty, he ends up dying from exhaustion while digging a borehole for the benefit of the other animals, which, paradoxically, don’t even accord him a decent burial.

In fact, his hide is sold to a butcher by the greedy pigs. Mtiki’s character is used to illustrate what is commonly known as uzalendo wa kijinga, (foolish loyalty).

It is likely that Mwangi’s and his colleagues’ decision to use pigs to depict MPs’ greed was inspired by the pigs in The Animal Farm, while the use of donkeys is reminiscent of a story in the Bible in which a donkey, tired of its master Blaam’s beatings, speaks out in protest.

However, it is not clear where Wamagata got the idea of using rats from.

While addressing the public using parables, as he wont to do, Opposition leader Raila Odinga has in the recent past referred to donkeys to drive home political messages.

“Punda Amechoka (The donkey had had it)!” Mr Odinga has often said in reference to the “burden” he says the Jubilee government has placed on the shoulders of Kenyans.

WE ARE TIRED
The activists who brought 20 donkeys to the streets of Nairobi might have taken a cue from Mr Odinga.

Witnesses say one shouted, “We are tired of this leadership!” as he pushed the donkeys with the word “Tumechoka” painted on their backs off the lorry he had used to ferry them to Nairobi.

The donkeys roamed the streets as curious crowds watched and discussed the unusual spectacle. They were later herded into another lorry and taken to an animal pound as police sought to find out who their owners were and the activists who had brought them to Nairobi.

Remarkably, those behind the protest issued a statement saying:

“Many Kenyans are growing increasingly tired of complaining about the issues affecting their daily lives and feeling like beasts of burden, donkeys serving the privileged few.

We want to be proactive, to regain control and offer solutions to problems that affect us every day. We want to play our part so that we are justified in asking the government to play its part.

“Over the next few weeks and months, we will drive conversations, both online and offline, with the key focus on several thematic areas that affect the day-to-day lives of ordinary Kenyans.

We are tired of feeling helpless in the light of all the challenges that are facing our country and tired of the perception that we have no voice and need to accept things as they are.”

ONDOA PANYA CAMPAIGN
Interestingly, it went on to declare: “This is not a protest. All we wish to ask on the eve of the Nation’s 51st Anniversary is: Are we tired, disturbed and frustrated enough with the status quo to finally take action and demand the necessary change?”

It is not clear which law the activists who used donkeys broke, apart from transporting and abandoning the beasts in unfamiliar territory; painting a donkey is unlikely to attract any criminal charges.

And as for Wamagata and his rats, animal rights activists don’t seem bothered by his use of the vermin, which seems to have emboldened him.

“When we took pigs to Parliament, some of us were arrested but we’ve not been arrested or had any complaints from animal rights’ officials in connection to rats,” he told DN2 during an interview.

However, he revealed that they are sometimes trailed by plainclothes police officers, adding that some matatus refuse to carry activists if they know they are carrying rats.

When the group visited Machakos County Assembly, Mr Wamagata who is the coordinator of Ondoa Panya campaign, said they would use the Right of Recall clause in the Constitution to have the MCAs recalled before the end of their term.

In a memorandum presented to the Machakos County Assembly, the activists said the “useless” trips undertaken by the MCAs did not add value to their responsibilities or to the lives of the citizens they represented.

“We wish to remind you that counties were created to devolve services to Kenyans and not to help you eradicate poverty from your family,” the civil society group said in its memo.

READING NOT POPULAR
They pointed out that the Controller of Budget had released reports indicating that a large proportion of the expenditure by both counties and the national government could not be accounted for.

“This means that you, as one of the watchdogs of the people at the county level, have failed in your oversight role,” they said.

The memo explained that they had singled out MCAs because of the important role they were required to play in the implementation of devolution. The activists observed that instead of helping devolution to succeed, the MCAs had become a risk to its implementation.

Mr Wamagata says the challenge with using rats as props for his campaign is that people opposed to his activities have come up with a counter-strategy: bringing along big cats to eat the rats, as happened when the visited the County Assembly of Nakuru.

“We met a lot of resistance in Nakuru. The police had surrounded the county assembly and there were three hired goons standing by with big cats to devour the rats,” he recounted.

But why use rats instead of the more conventional posters and flyers to convey his message?

“The problem with posters and flyers is that people do not like reading much. Someone will look at the poster and proceed with their business without even reading it to the end,” he says.

ATTRACTING ATTENTION
In contrast, he says, the use of live rats attracts a lot of attention. In the various assemblies he has visited with the Ondoa Panya group, curious crowds rushed to see what was happening.

“When a rat enters your house, it eats everything inside, including your trousers. Rats are smaller than pigs, hence they are suitable for depicting the behaviour of MCAs, who are ranked lower than MPs,” he adds.

Wamagata says rats bite and then hide; similarly, after getting elected, many MCAs are no longer available for their constituents.

“Rats symbolise greed. They are also readily available across the country,” he adds.

He says he also considered the price of rats before deciding to use them as props. Whenever he visits a county, he hires people to bring him the rodents for the occasion. Each rat costs Sh100, Wamagata says.

So far the group has been to five counties, namely Nairobi, Nakuru, Machakos, Makueni and Bungoma. They have also conducted civic education in several other towns across the country.

Wamagata says the campaign has been successful, citing the case of Makueni County, where residents presented a petition to the President to have the county assembly dissolved.

Among the posters the residents carried were some with drawings of rats, which, he says, is an indication that the civic education they conducted in the area “had borne some fruit”.

In Bungoma County, an MCA who had got a girl pregnant and gone scot-free was eventually arrested after the group visited.

NEXT STRATEGY
Mr Wamagata also says about 15 countries have banned the MCAs from travelling as a result of the pressure exerted by the civil society group.

While the idea of using animals is new in Kenya, it can be traced back to the days of Moses and the children of Israel in the Bible.

When Moses was sent by God to free the children of Israel from Egypt, which was ruled by the stone-hearted Pharaoh, he used frogs, snakes and even flies to get the adamant Pharaoh to succumb to his demands.

His demand, “Let My People Go!” finally bore fruit.

If the trend of using live props continues, as Wamagata promised, who knows, we might soon have a protest using chicken, during which activists will unleash a food of branded birds on the streets of Nairobi.

CHRISTMAS OFFER
The “chicken” scandal, in which members of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission were implicated in shady deals, could just prove the trigger for such a demo.

Given Kenyans’ sense of entrepreneurship, one wonders in retrospect what might have happened had the authorities not moved in promptly to impound the donkeys freely roaming the streets after being there by activists.

Perhaps the price of meat would not have dropped considerably in some areas under a “special Christmas offer”.

Whoever came up with the donkey demo should know that it would not be advisable to use the beasts in places like Naivasha after dusk.

As for the rats? It seems Wamagata’s main worry should be cats and rat poison. They could easily scuttle his campaign.