Is Kenyatta charming and harming?

Be a harmless dude without the charm and we will get on just fine! But charm me first and begin to harm me later, then you will have opened a chocking can of tasteless, deceptive, and untrustworthy worms. That’s what democracy has sometimes come to mean in the world where candidates engage in a charm offensive making several sexy promises (not literally) and then going back on their words or simply planning to do something totally different.

Don’t blame the apathetic public that naturally has become weary of the charms of the likes of Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump in the US long drawn electoral process, or the crisscrossing of the world by the Egyptian president Adbel Fattah el-Sisi or the Presidency-demystifier Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya for whom Swipel will devote the rest of this blog.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has enjoyed the trappings of success from birth. Son and heir to his father Jomo Kenyatta, an ex-president and founding father of the Kenyan nation, Uhuru Kenyatta is one of the wealthiest men in Africa. Despite being born with a silver spoon in his mouth, this University of Massachussetts Amherst graduate has had to work hard to study at that level. He seems to have a vision; he is eloquent; and someone whose people-oriented approach has demystified and therefore humanised the presidency.

‘Will he or won’t he stand trial at The Hague for the country’s post electoral violence some years back’ has always been hanging over him and that matter was settled when the ICC dropped the case against him. That aside, the spotlight of the recent visit by the US president Obama to his father’s home land has certainly rubbed off on president Uhuru who was already basking in a good dose of popularity given his hands-on approach not only inside Kenya but also with regional matters in Burundi and South Sudan though with varying degrees of success.

In yet another normalising move, a casually dressed up President Kenyatta made an endearing Church appearance catching other worshippers on the coastal city of Mombasa by surprise . As if to say, ‘I’m the same as you all in the eyes of the Lord’ (full story here). Just a few days ago, he used his twitter account to relay his message asking each and every citizen to think about ways Kenya can further the dreams of the country’s forefathers. How charming! Then it’s the Kenyan government reportedly seeking to curb the powers of the attorney general who has just found out that only 1.2% of the US $ 10 billion, yes 1.2% of the $10 billion of the defence budget, was lawfully spent (Click here for full story). As if to say, some members of my government and I are not the same as the rest of you in the eyes of the law. How harming!

Tafdhali, tafdhali, tafdhali (Swahili for please, please, please) ask President Kenyatta to come out and clarify, set the transparency record straight and reassure the public that it is part of the dream of the Kenyan forefathers that budgets of state services are accounted for. Swipel would take this opportunity to remind its readers that the Kenyan dream is also an African dream that you can read about by clicking here.