Reggae fan and former reggae deejay Irungu Kang’ata switched off his phone earlier in the week as a storm raged over a letter he wrote warning President Uhuru Kenyatta that the Building Bridges Initiative “reggae” might be stopped by Mt Kenya residents.
In reggae deejaying terms, Dr Kang’ata’s letter was a six-paged “puull uuuup selecta ” asking the President to revisit issues presumed settled, like a multiple-choice referendum.
The senator is back online, and he says he went off-air because of the incessant calls he received. “I needed time to pray with my pastor and family for strength,” he told the Sunday Nation yesterday.
One might imagine he spent part of his “hiatus” listening to his favourite artiste Peter Tosh, probably a song he once said is Peter Tosh’s best, titled ‘Not Gonna Give It Up’, part of which goes: “I’m not gonna give it up/ I’m not goin’/ I will be fighting.”
Some claimed Kang’ata turned chatty chatty mouth , as reggae people dismissively call the talkative. National Assembly Majority Leader Amos Kimunya thought Dr Kang’ata was merely seeking attention: “This is amateurism. I have been in Cabinet for long. There are things you don’t do to the President.”
It was a storm that required Dr Kang’ata to perhaps don some Gideon boots and a khaki suit, as contemplated by artiste Richie Spice in his 2008 song, Gideon Boot, that goes: “Fi stand out inna Babylon and represent the truth/ Me nah go stay a road, and see bad things, keep mi mouth pon mute.”
“I think being honest and candid is important. Many feel I represented their views which needed someone to echo,” he said yesterday.
He initially dithered on whether to disown the letter or not, finally saying saying he authored it but not to be shared with the public. The man who started out as a councillor at the Murang’a Municipal Council in 2002 has clinched every political seat he has sought after that, becoming Kiharu MP in 2013 and Murang’a Senator in 2017. The letter has placed the Senate Majority whip – who is eyeing the Murang’a governorship – under tight scrutiny.
Some, like Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua, think he might probably have been executing a Jubilee Party strategy that might play out later.
The man who obtained a doctorate in law from UoN last month says he has received death threats and filed a report with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.
This might be the oncoming “shark attack” that was described by the Wailing Souls in their 1992 song: “...Coming with a double attack/ Step back, here comes the shark attack.”
Will his latest move swallow him or float him higher in the murky Mt Kenya political waters? Only Jah knows.
