Why we need our own ‘Zuma barking dogs’

A 65-year-old woman in Pretoria, South Africa, was arrested recently for training her seven dogs to bark wildly every time they see President Jacob Zuma on TV or hear his voice on radio.

The dogs are said to bark even louder whenever President Zuma pronounces big numbers and amounts of money.

The first time I read this story, I wondered why on earth I was not a keeper of any dogs because, right then, I understood the reason behind Karen Van Rooyen’s uniquely targeted protest.

Some critics have pinned a racist tag on her “crime”.  You see, in apartheid South Africa, dogs were trained to target and attack blacks.

It was widespread. It was deplorable. I, however, choose to ignore the presumed racist connotation and focus on the fact that the dog owner did not target former presidents Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki or even fiery ANC politician Julius Malema.

RACIST INTENTIONS

Whether Karen harbours racist intentions or not, President Jacob Zuma, is in my view, running the country on borrowed time as corruption allegations dog his eight-year reign.

In April last year, a South African court declared that Mr Zuma should face 783 criminal charges of alleged corruption, fraud and racketeering.

It is not only the “Nkandlagate” scandal around repairs to his retirement home that sparked taxpayers’ rage over its astronomically extravagant and inflated budgets.

It is also old scandals like the 4.4 billion pounds arms deal signed in 1998 before he came to power.

President Zuma is accused of taking kickbacks. Several other scandals have since emerged.

INCREASINGLY AGITATING

South Africans are getting increasingly agitated and frustrated by an accountability and juridical system whose wheels of justice seem to be rolling rather slowly.

In Kenya, we have our own “Zumas” running for office in the coming elections.

Corrupt politicians who arrogantly appear on our television screens or their voices boom through the radio, making grandiose promises despite the tag of plunder and embezzlement that taints their reputations.  

LOOTING SPREE

They lie with such conviction but are simply paying lip service as they prepare to venture into the next looting spree.

Our politicians remind me of a children’s cartoon character called Pinocchio, who was a pathological liar.

In a bid to turn him into an honest person, a fairy cast a spell upon him so that whenever he lied, his nose would automatically grow an inch longer.

Being the liar he was, you can imagine just how long his nose grew by the end of day! Today, the wolves have stepped out in sheep’s skin.

As they speak of upholding integrity and the rule of law, it is insulting to the intelligence of Kenyans who know that they are being taken for a ride.

Like Karen Van Rooyen, I cringe and almost want to bark whenever some politicians appear on TV and talk about “feeding all Kenyans” or “providing health services” or “we must invest in our youth” or even “this country belongs to all of us” yet they continue to steal public funds.

STREET DEMONSTRATIONS

We have held street demonstrations; drafted laws and pursued judicial procedures, we have lamented, we have prayed, we have cursed, we have begged and cajoled, but corruption still haunts us with a vengeance.

Perhaps, it is time we adopted an extreme strategy like Karen’s that involves the use of pets.

If you are a dog keeper, train it to bark loudly whenever a face of corruption comes on the screen or the voice is on radio.

If you have a cat, train it to meow louder and if you are a snake keeper train it to hiss even louder.

I wish the noses of politicians would grow longer before our very eyes every time they lie. Imagine the news full of faces of politicians with elongated noses … what pleasant instant justice!

Ms Ngesa is a Pan-African media & communications specialist. [email protected]