Things our politicians say

"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

Hours after being forced to make an apology for hate speech, Moses Kuria, the Gatundu South MP, is at it again.

Clearly Mr Kuria knows no law will be used to prosecute him or put him away. All he will get is a slap on the wrist. Alan Wadi, however, gets to go to jail, with no option for a public apology.

Yes, Alan Wadi said vile things. As did Moses Kuria. Why then does Mr Kuria get away so lightly? I suppose some animals are more equal than others.

His most recent offering involves the tired insult about uncircumcised and circumcised men and their respective worth, which is apparently dependent on their foreskin. He even quotes the Bible, which is what people who are self-righteous and given to twisting the words of a Holy Book do to back up their idiocy.

Going by how many silly things Moses Kuria frequently says concerning stripping of women and so forth, we can deduce that absence or presence of foreskin has absolutely no bearing on the measure of intelligence a person possesses.

POLITICIANS SAY AND DO WHAT THEY WANT

We are, quite frankly, living in a time when politicians can say and do whatever they want to say or do. At the recent funeral for Fidel Odinga, an MP was heard saying openly inflammatory things about another community, intimating that they deserved nothing in Kenya.

This MP clearly lacked situational awareness – surely a funeral is not the place to talk about tribes and communities, much less what they deserve?

The irony is that the deceased was friends with people across all communities. Why can't we all just get along or keep our mouths shut?

To be fair, no one really expects a funeral to be what it’s supposed to be anymore, so that is to be expected. But is nothing sacred anymore, even a woman's womb? Yet another politician threw shade on the fact that the deceased ex-wife had not borne him a child.

As if the worth of a woman is how many children she has.

As if anyone other than the woman has any right to comment on the state of her uterus!

As if a funeral is the place to be conversing loosely about fertility!

It was appalling to hear this from a respected member of the community, a senior member, whose very last thought should be about the state of childlessness of a woman who is not married to him.

One wonders why this man was so closely observing another man's lineage, and indeed, why he felt the need to bring it up at that particular time.

And isn't the point of a funeral to pay last respects, and not to mudsling and screech obscenities like fishwives?

One wonders how these people continue to win votes.

SAYING AND DOING

Then there is the third category of politicians with loose tongues: those who say they are going to do something, and then actually do it.

But is what they are doing actually helping?

Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko just unveiled a grand scheme to provide ambulances, fire-fighting vehicles and even wedding limousines for free to people who cannot afford them.

While I feel that it is commendable that someone is actually doing something for the good of the people, my friend brought a few questions to light.

What is the role of the organisations which are supposed to be taking care of these things? Where is Sonko's money coming from?

What is happening to the money that is supposed to be being used for these necessities, if Sonko is using his own money?

What is the point of the institutions we have in place then, if individuals are in charge of themselves?

In providing all of these things for free, is Sonko helping or hurting? Is he building a dependent county or creating sustainable activity for a people?

Obviously this is not sustainable. You can't do this for the whole county.

It is a stopgap measure for a dam of need and a lack of actual development that will eventually burst.

Free things are wonderful, and Kenyans, including myself, are addicted to them.

But they are not healthy. They do not teach us to fish, so to speak. In the long run, we will just wallow deeper into debt and the only skill we will have honed is that of putting our hands out to beg.

Twitter: @AbigailArunga