Nairobi, my town, is being taken over by some populist oddball

What struck me when Senator Mike Sonko was in the TV studio for the Jeff Koinange show on Wednesday night was the way he was suitably dressed in a sober blue suit.

He had no bling which, customarily, is part of his attire.

When asked, he said he was running for Nairobi governor and bling would not feature in his gubernatorial office.

Phew! The boy is serious about becoming governor.

Those who have no time for Sonko are forever being told off by his fans about his man-of-the-people invincibility.

VOICE OF GOD

“The Voice of the People is the Voice of God”, we are pushed to chant in supplication to his popularity.

The phrase got overworked in the books of Ngugi wa Thiong’o written during his “revolutionary” phase.

The term is gibberish. Nothing can be further from a God than a mob. The Holy Book concurs. Given the choice between Jesus and the robber Barabbas, the mob chose the latter.

Sonko’s source of popularity is not difficult to fathom. In a city whose systems have broken down, he will pop up with aid for slum dwellers whose shacks are destroyed by fire.

A plot owner whose property has been illegally “grabbed” can always rely on the senator to get back what is his.

SUPPORT THE POOR

When doctors go on strike, he will come to the support of the suffering poor in his own small way by setting up a medical camp.

The senator’s so-called Rescue Team alleviates those unexpected personal tragedies the State neglects or is ill-equipped to deal with.

The argument that the Nairobi governorship cannot and should not be run as a philanthropy-on-call office makes a lot of sense.

There are indications that Sonko himself has come to belatedly appreciate this.

The question remains, what sort of governance structures will he implement for the city?

ATTARCTS FLOWERS

Does he have a programme? As a person who is very likely to be my next governor, is he able to flesh out something coherent?

Above all, Sonko attracts followers because he is colourfully and extravagantly different.

By comportment and the way he struts around in his bling, he is like no other politician this country has seen.

Some of us are repelled by the vulgarity. Many others just fall for it.

For him, showmanship has taken him from obscurity to the pinnacle of Nairobi politics.

PUBLIC ADULATION

No other politician across this country is better known. Toddlers hum his name when he appears on TV screens.

There are people you badly want to figure out but who happen to be on their own journey of self-discovery.

My view is that Sonko is a slave of public adulation and is seeking the governorship for no other reason than this.

Who knows what next will take his fancy when voters gift him City Hall? State House? Wait a minute, who ever imagined Donald Trump would become President of the USA?

I have never met Sonko face to face. I have, however, done so with his rival Evans Kidero, the incumbent governor.

He has a highly logical mind (disclosure: he used to be my boss on this newspaper). Yet this epic gubernatorial showdown is not going to be about minds or policies.

POLITICAL CLASS

Sonko is the Trump-ist the masses see as their messenger who roils up a political class they distrust.

We are not talking about just a politician. We are talking about a brand.

I felt a touch of pity for the guy when he was dismissed in the most contemptuous way by super-businessman Chris Kirubi who Sonko had hopefully mentioned as a possible gubernatorial adviser.

I think the putdown could have been delivered in a softer, more considerate way.

Still, what made the episode so touching was the obvious desperation on Sonko’s part to seek acceptability with the upper classes.

DESERVES CREDIT

If there is a vulnerability in the Sonko persona, that is it.

Jeff Koinange deserves credit for bringing up a disreputable aspect of Sonko’s past: His incarceration at Shimo-la-Tewa prison, apparently over a land fraud case.

Sonko said the case was dismissed. My house-help, who uncharacteristically dropped everything to watch the interview, was mostly interested in what she claimed was Sonko’s “mastery” of spoken English.

I don’t think it’s just the English. I think we are dealing with a very shrewd chap who has all along been putting up a very sly act to the country.

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