Mr Kennedy Kaunda on Monday excited Kenyans with his “with all due respect” interjection during a disastrous media briefing led by Energy Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi.
It was day one of the transport sector strike called to protest the high fuel prices and Mr Kaunda, who is the Chief Executive Officer of the East Africa Tour Guides and Drivers Association (EATGDA), bravely contradicted Mr Wandayi for supposedly misleading the nation on what had been agreed upon.
The crisis had built up after the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority announced new May 15-June 14, 2026 prices for Diesel to be Sh242 and that of Petrol to be Sh214 per litre while kerosene was capped at Sh152.
Tired of government gimmicks of joking around with the issue, the transport sector said enough was enough and called for a national strike and the government called for talks led by Mr Wandayi and his Transport counterpart Davis Chirchir.
In the ensuing boardroom tension after hours of negotiations, a man not earlier known especially in the fast lane of politics caught Kenyans by his intervention to set the record straight.
“We decided to call the media and tell the nation that we were negotiating but had not settled on a common ground,” Mr Kaunda later said.
So, when Mr Wandayi took to the microphone and told the media that the negotiations had struck a deal to end the matatu strike that was less than 12 hours old, Mr Kaunda immediately interrupted him on camera.
“With all due respect, we respect everyone here... We are law-abiding citizens, there is no deal. We have not agreed on anything. That is the position,” Mr Kaunda said.
Mr Kennedy Kaunda the Chief Executive Officer of the East Africa Tour Guides and Drivers Association.
Photo credit: John Nyagah | Nation Media Group
For once, a small man from the chaotic transport industry—without firing any bullet—had executed a coup against the lies of a government, forcing Mr Wandayi to hide his shame in an abrupt call to end the meeting.
In an instant, Mr Kaunda became the most famous face of the crisis, Kenyans who supported lowered fuel prices celebrating him through cheekily crafted memes and AI-generated images as among the only few faces of sanity remaining in their lives.
But his hero status did not even get beyond 24 hours, going by the views expressed on social media after another meeting on Tuesday, when the strike was temporarily stopped.
Characteristic of one-hit celebrities, he seemed to have lost favour hours later among the very same cheerleaders when he showed up again together with other stakeholders to announce that the strike had been suspended for one week, the deal being that the government was sympathetic enough to decrease a litre of diesel by Sh10 and increase that of paraffin by Sh39.
A few days later, President Ruto led a meeting at State House, Mombasa, where the strike had been called off.
The shocked netizens were not kind and insinuated there were games played behind the scenes, something he and other sector leaders denied. Nonetheless, Mr Kaunda has become a household name and has been a regular feature this week on TV stations and newspapers.
But some can’t help asking: With all due respect, why did Kaunda apply the brakes after his speedy intervention at the initial press conference?
