By Gabriel Oguda
A LETTER TO AN ACTIVIST
Dear, Boniface Mwangi.
We are friends, on Facebook and Twitter, and that should count for something. You turned 35 last month, as I did in May, and that makes us age mates. Ordinarily, I should have called you to speak to you on this issue, but since we have never met and I do not have your contacts, I chose this forum to make the same appeal.
It is wrong to attack Raila Odinga, and his family, in the manner in which you are currently doing online. I once passed by the Kenya National Archives and saw those pictures you pinned on the wire-mesh telling us about Kenya’s history and why we should keep it alive. You displayed a giant printout of the letter President Barack Obama wrote to you, alongside his official White House portrait, and you felt you had conquered the world.
If President Obama is your mentor, as you have made us to believe, then you must have known by now that President Obama abhors the politics of antagonism and confrontation. There are many things that were said about President Obama, mostly by white supremacists, some even calling for his head on a plate. There was no time President Obama responded to his critics with sewer language. He chose to keep his head above the water, and that’s the reason you are proud to hug his portrait and call him your father. You might have been born of the streets, Boniface, and while you’re clearly an expert at boxing your way into headline news, it is immature of you to carry on with the kind of uncouth politics that you have made your trademark. You need to clean up now, Boniface, you are not a child anymore.
I am not an ODM member. I have never shaken hands with Raila Odinga, he does not even know of my existence. I tell you these things, Boniface, because I care for your fledgling political career that you have struggled to put up with every sinew in your body. There are many youths looking up to you for a fresh start, and they are willing to run the course with you if you promise to be different from the political crop we are trying to prune out. I do not know the kind of friends you consult, but I do know if Barack Obama was one of them, he would have advised you to dip your hot-head in icy water, and take your withering tongue to your nearest blacksmith for blunting.
You do not owe me a hearing, Boniface, you can even decide to bin this note in toto. But should you decide to respond, this is a kind request to refrain from attacking any of my family members, real or perceived, in the manner in which you have made your online trademark. Because I might not accord you the luxury of being nice, like Raila Odinga has, and I can not guarantee that you will like the mud bath you would have opened for yourself.
Hope this finds you well. And welcome to the Dignified Class of 35.
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