In a week when Kenyans continued populating their humorous online dictionary of common expressions, politicians allied to Deputy President William Ruto were forced to provide new definitions of “hustler”.
Nyeri Woman Representative Rahab Mukami, a fervent defender of Dr Ruto, was among them. She provided a new perspective about Dr Ruto and his hustler mantra.
She told a gathering at Dr Ruto’s Karen residence: “Mtu akibarikiwa, si ni Mungu amembariki? Na sasa, sisi tukiwa Wakenya, tungetaka kuchagua president mwenye hana kitu? Si tunataka yule president ako na kitu? ” (Don’t blessings come from God? And as Kenyans, can we elect a broke president? Don’t we want a president who owns something?)
For a woman whose biography says she came from humble beginnings in the Majengo slums of Nyeri, and who later got into business before branching into politics, her perspective might or might not fly, depending on which dictionary you are using to look up “hustler”.
If it is the conventional dictionary, you will probably be in the same boat with Mr Francis Atwoli, the secretary-general of the Central Organisation of Trade Unions who gave a punchy perspective of it last year: “Hustlers are thieves, and nobody would like to be called a hustler. If my son came to my house and told me he is a hustler, I will chase him away from my family.”
But if you are using the street-smart dictionary used by rapper Cassidy who is behind the 2005 hit I’m a Hustla, you will see things differently.
“I’m a hustler, I can sell salt to a slug,” goes one of the song’s lines.
While Dr Ruto’s critics think his allies are selling salt to slugs because they are swimming in riches while playing to the emotions of economically disempowered Kenyans, new perspectives emerged during that Thursday forum.
“There is no day William Ruto and other hustlers who lead this movement said they are poor,” he told a team from Nakuru that had visited the Deputy President. “The greatest day for Kenya would be the day when a hustler, a man from the bottom, comes to the top of this nation. It will be an inspiration for all of us.”
Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichung’wah also weighed in on the hustler debate: “Those who say the Deputy President needs to be poor because he calls himself a hustler, we know them.”
This happening a day after Dr Ruto had been exposed in Parliament as a man who owned lots of assets that are protected by police despite him branding himself as a pro-poor politician, it looked like a moment to amend the dictionary to clarify what a hustler voter should be vis-à-vis a hustler leader.
Ms Mukami, who was the most elaborate female leader in defending Dr Ruto at the event, likes using songs in her addresses.
She reminded the delegation how they used to sing “anachukua, anaweka” during the London ward by-election held in March where the United Democratic Alliance, a party associated with Dr Ruto, won.
“Na hivyo ndivo watu wa Nakuru walifanya. Tulichukua na tukaweka,” she said.
Ms Mukami completed her O-level studies from Birithia Girls in Nyeri County in 1985 and a year later, she was a teacher in Baringo. She taught until 1989.
“In Baringo, she was able to develop her passion for education, children and women. She then set out to work in Nairobi where she was able to gain business acumen due to working in different manufacturing companies,” her biography reads.
“Mukami” means a person who milks in the Kikuyu language. So, given that she and Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua are the most passionate marketers of Dr Ruto in Nyeri County, it infers that the hustler narrative means not just the world to her but the whole Milky Way.
As she suckles the UDA udder while her first term in Parliament as Jubilee Party lawmaker draws to a close, it will be interesting to see if she will be in the hustlers’ cream after August 2022.
