You live in a prehistoric cave if you are Kenyan and have never heard of flamboyant Nairobi attorney Donald Kipkorir. The man, who’s one of my best friends, is quite the character. But on this we can all agree – he’s very successful as a lawyer. He’s also very opinionated. The man originally from Cheptongei in Elgeyo Marakwet grew up dirt poor.
The story of his life is one of grit, intellectual brilliance, lady luck, and street smarts. He’s made quite the name for himself. He literally pulled himself up without any bootstraps. Importantly, he’s never forgotten his humble and squalid beginnings. But most don’t know Mr Kipkorir is a serious philanthropist because he doesn’t engage in charity pornography.
This column, however, isn’t about Mr Kipkorir. Rather, it’s about a tawdry and disgusting trend among a crass demographic of Kenyans – wannabes – who have turned giving into a platform for seeking macabre fame. I call this gross and shameless phenomenon charity pornography. In its literal meaning, charity pornography is the use of largesse, which is usually illicit or ill-gotten, to appear caring and benevolent.
It’s akin to the wolve raiding the chicken coop to “save” the poor birds only to devour them at the back of the barn. It’s the most banal and egotistical manifestation of the hypocrisy of elites and their aspiring suckers. Most Kenyan politicians, and lately artists, fall in this sin of filth. Let me peel the onion.
We live in the age of clout-chasers — people who believe they can ride the craze of social media to fame and riches through gimmickry, the hoodwink and pure fakery. The more extreme of these narcissists stage their own misfortunes as clickbait for the eyeballs of a gullible public drunk on scandal. They don’t actually do any real work but live on social media 24/7. They troll others with disgusting and defamatory posts of misogyny, homophobia, and outright libel on families. One usually posts lurid and blatantly false “exposes” of who’s sleeping with who, whose kids are illegitimate, and who’s deathly ill. These are sick minds in need of psychological help and anti-depressant or psychotic meds. Some are candidates for suicide.
Kenya is a very impoverished country, although it is rich in terms of human and natural resources. Let me tell you why this madness of charity pornography is finding a foothold in Kenya. Kenya has a population of 53 million with a Gross Domestic product of $110 billion. It’s per capita is $2,000. That ranks Kenya as the 66th poorest country in the world. Compare this to South Korea which was at the same level as Kenya in the 1960s. South Korea’s population is 52 million but it’s GDP is $3 trillion. It’s per capita is $60,000. By those numbers, you can see why most Kenyans live on the edge of the universe. Kenyans aren’t on the same planet as South Koreans.
Ours is a country of desperados — people who are trapped in the penurity and poverty of a pre-historic age. It’s this population that a tiny elite preys on to be elected to public office so it can loot the citizens dry. The national cake is so small, and pigs so many, that the trough cannot grow. That’s why charity pornographers are proliferating and multiplying like maggots in the rainy season. Anyone with a phone has a megaphone to try their luck in joining the feeding frenzy. Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube have become the purveyors of charity pornographers. They do it so shamelessly and without apology. To them, the end justifies the means so long as they can fake “good works.”
We shouldn’t be surprised by charity pornographers because the Christian Church paved the way for them. Pastors and priests – fake and real – started the orgy of crass materialism in Kenya. They prey on penitents every day and twice on Sundays. Couples work hard only to “tithe” the Church so that the pastor and his “first lady” can build a gaudy mansion in the village amid grinding poverty.
Latecomer charity pornographers have learnt well from the Church. Recently, I saw footage on Facebook of a “celebrity” donating two packets of unga (corn meal) to an emaciated woman in a remote windswept village. From the clip, it was clear that the “celebrity” was desperate to get a good picture of himself doing the “good dead.”
This is what my good friend Mr Kipkorir would tell these barracudas – if you want to “help” the poor, do so without publicity and without publicly humiliating them for their poverty to seek fame or high office. Leave your camera behind if you mean well. Do good and go away quietly.
If those you have benefitted want to publicise your good works, let them recognize you in their good time at a place of their choosing. If you are supporting needy kids in a school, do so quietly, don’t seek fame or recognition. A charity pornographer is a base human being.
Makau Mutua is SUNY Distinguished Professor and Margaret W. Wong Professor at Buffalo Law School, The State University of New York. On X: @makaumutua
