It is not up to the State machinery to reply to Muthama’s puerile diatribe

Not too long ago at a consultative meeting between senators and media editors, Machakos Senator Johnson Muthama kept complaining that the Kenyan press loves to ignore the serious issues and focus on inane sideshows.

A media colleague put Senator Muthama in his place with the simple observation that he was particularly gifted at diverting media attention from the import of any gathering.

We have seen again how Mr Muthama’s unguarded comments will always be guaranteed to hog the headlines.

The opposition alliance called a public rally on a critical national issue, but did not pause to consider that letting the Machakos senator anywhere near a microphone was bound to steal the thunder from whatever policy positions and action plans were pronounced.

VIRULENT TONGUE

Dating back to the 2013 presidential election campaigns, Mr Muthama’s toxic tongue would always be relied on to excite the crowds and send the subjects of his virulent barbs steaming with anger.

The problem is that he was preaching to the converted, and I always felt that any time he opened his mouth at a campaign rally, he lost the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (Cord) presidential candidate, Mr Raila Odinga, a great number of votes.

It is one thing to excite those already committed to a cause. It is quite another to disgust and frighten away the still-to-be-netted.

The Cord rally last Wednesday was supposed to be a key litmus test on how the opposition coalition can offer alternative prescriptions in the wake of the governing Jubilee coalition’s mishandling of the teachers’ pay dispute.

It was supposed to project Cord as a responsible government-in-waiting and Mr Odinga as a viable alternative to President Uhuru Kenyatta.

CORD'S FAILINGS
Instead, the public was left with a sour taste in the mouth. Other than the hare-brained launch of a solidarity fund for the striking teachers, the abiding memory of the rally is the unbecoming insults from Mr Muthama’s loose tongue directed at President Kenyatta and Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru.

There is a time and place for everything, and on this occasion, a noble cause — the teachers’ strike and the welfare of hundred of thousands schoolchildren — was relegated to the periphery as the politics of insults took centre stage.

The reverb from Mr Muthama’s unbridled tongue is what now dominates the wake of the Cord rally and succeeds only in projecting an outfit that has nothing useful to offer other than insults and empty noise.

The Machakos senator and others of his ilk stand as living proof of Cord’s failings, particularly its inability to craft coherent messages when an alternative to Jubilee’s serial blunders is sorely needed.

Now, condemning Mr Muthama’s puerile utterances must not be equated to endorsement of the equally puerile responses from the Jubilee sycophancy.

Every market has its madman, so it does not make sense for the State security and Justice machinery to echo the Jubilee hordes.

ALL ARE EQUAL
Interior Minister Joseph Nkaissery is totally out of order when he purports to order that Mr Muthama record a statement with the police over his utterances.

If the retired army general has failed to defeat Al-Shabaab, cattle rustlers, bandits, and assorted criminals that make life in Kenya short and brutish, he should ask to be excused instead of trying to sound tough with irregular orders.

The assorted politicians, church leaders, and all sorts of idlers pretending to speak out in defence of President Kenyatta and Ms Waiguru should also shut up. It is neither illegal nor criminal to throw barbs at the President or anybody else.

Let us forget this misconception that the President is anointed by God or stands on hallowed ground above scrutiny. He is a politician just like Mr Odinga and Mr Muthama and when it suits him has been known to give as good as he gets in the exchange of insults.

NO ERRAND BOYS

In any case the President and Ms Waiguru can speak for themselves, either through statements or defamation suits. They do not need self-appointed defenders.

So in that regard, neither CID Director Ndegwa Muhoro, Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko, nor National Cohesion and Integration Commission boss Francis ole Kaparo have any business harassing Mr Muthama.

Their roles are defined by law and do not include being the President’s errand boys and youth wingers.