UDA has some smart and intelligent people such as Dr David Ndii, although it still beats me how he made that den of cartels his political home.Truth be told, a large number of UDA honchos couldn’t even pass a liberal application of Chapter Six of the Constitution.
UDA is infested with many senior – and wealthy – know-nothings. The vast majority of them can’t credibly explain to any credible court, or ethical national forum how, where and when they acquired their wealth. If the word impunity had a portrait, the party would perfectly fit it. That’s why the argument about the rule of law is wrapped in “whataboutism”. If you point a finger at them, they point a longer one.
Whataboutism is a logical fallacy which is used as a propaganda technique by those whose conscience isn’t clear or those who have malign objectives. The textbook use of whataboutism is responding to an argument, or question, with a snarky retort, or a critical counter-question. Such a response is usually in the form of a counter-accusation.
For example, say I ask you why your father was a thief. In a whataboutism retort, you would ask me why my mother was a more notorious thief. The response is an attempt to quash an incriminating truth, kill an unfavourable conversation, or end a line of questioning that’s unwinnable. Whataboutism is a device for the wicked and those who have the stuff to hide.
I’ve gone to great lengths to elucidate whataboutism because it’s become the key tool of propaganda employed by the UDA regime. Initially, I thought it was simply a tactic of the boy who cried wolf. But I have now come to believe that it’s a political strategy to misdirect, misinform and flummox a hapless public.
It’s taken from deep in the arsenal of denialism. Its purpose is to blind the public from the administration’s many failures and its inability to fulfil its pie-in-the-sky campaign promises. The people were hoodwinked, and the only way you can keep them from realising they have been had is to hoodwink them even more. As they say, a sucker is born every second.
If you recall the 2022 campaigns, UDA’s leader William Ruto built his main pitch on two pillars. The first was to blame the “Handshake” between Jubilee’s Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM’s Raila Odinga. He cunningly, if falsely, hung bad policy on them. Never mind that he was numero dos in government for a smacking 10 years.
God’s messenger
In the second pillar, Mr Ruto promised heaven on earth to his gullible supporters. Often, he sounded like God’s messenger to the vulnerable. But remember the biblical admonition in Psalms 12: 2-3 about those who “speak and deceive in forked tongues”. Remember UDA’s 100-day report returned blanks, or failed promises. UDA’s number two, Rigathi Gachagua, was no different. He still cries the loudest.
The two top whataboutism kings are Mr Ruto and Mr Gachagua. All the others below – be they MPs, ministers, or their subordinates – have followed suit. Every time a common citizen or a critic from Azimio asks a bona fide question, either Mr Ruto, or Mr Gachagua, and increasingly other UDA factotums like Mr Musalia Mudavadi, or Mr Aden Duale, stand up as though on cue. Usually, they will blame either Mr Kenyatta or Mr Odinga for an obscure wrong, or something irrelevant. What’s important is they never answer the question at hand, or pretend to do so. They never see the logs in their own eyes. Instead, they emote righteous anger and fulminate against their critics.
The most poignant is Mr Gachagua. Before the elections, Mr Gachagua was prosecuted by the Director of Public Prosecutions over unexplained wealth. The High Court found Sh202 million belonging to Mr Gachagua were proceeds of crime. The Asset Recovery Agency (ARA) seized the cash.
Now, the ARA has asked the Court of Appeal to set aside the High Court ruling based on “new” evidence to return Mr Gachagua’s money. Excuse me, do I look like I live in Mars? This stinks to the high heavens.
"Vanishing sins"
It seems all you have to do is be in UDA and your sins vanish into thin air. If you raise this question now, “whataboutists” spring up and list all of Mr Kenyatta’s “sins”.
So far, virtually all UDA politicians and officials who had been charged, or those whose assets had been seized during the Kenyatta state, are now being let go, or their assets returned. People with blatantly corrupt or criminal records have been appointed by Mr Ruto to the most senior positions in the country.
The government is overloaded with appointees from two communities. Inclusion is only a rumour. And yet when you ask these questions, even to those UDA adherents who are excluded, you get an “whataboutism” retort. Has Kenya become the theatre of the absurd? Who are we? Who have we become? Do we even recognise ourselves anymore?
Makau Mutua is SUNY Distinguished Professor and Margaret W. Wong Professor at Buffalo Law School, The State University of New York. @makaumutua.
Whataboutism is a logical fallacy which is used as a propaganda technique by those whose conscience isn’t clear or those who have malign objectives. The textbook use of whataboutism is responding to an argument, or question, with a snarky retort, or a critical counter-question. Such a response is usually in the form of a counter-accusation.
For example, say I ask you why your father was a thief. In a whataboutism retort, you would ask me why my mother was a more notorious thief. The response is an attempt to quash an incriminating truth, kill an unfavourable conversation, or end a line of questioning that’s unwinnable. Whataboutism is a device for the wicked and those who have the stuff to hide.
I’ve gone to great lengths to elucidate whataboutism because it’s become the key tool of propaganda employed by the UDA regime. Initially, I thought it was simply a tactic of the boy who cried wolf. But I have now come to believe that it’s a political strategy to misdirect, misinform and flummox a hapless public.
It’s taken from deep in the arsenal of denialism. Its purpose is to blind the public from the administration’s many failures and its inability to fulfil its pie-in-the-sky campaign promises. The people were hoodwinked, and the only way you can keep them from realising they have been had is to hoodwink them even more. As they say, a sucker is born every second.
If you recall the 2022 campaigns, UDA’s leader William Ruto built his main pitch on two pillars. The first was to blame the “Handshake” between Jubilee’s Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM’s Raila Odinga. He cunningly, if falsely, hung bad policy on them. Never mind that he was numero dos in government for a smacking 10 years.
God’s messenger
In the second pillar, Mr Ruto promised heaven on earth to his gullible supporters. Often, he sounded like God’s messenger to the vulnerable. But remember the biblical admonition in Psalms 12: 2-3 about those who “speak and deceive in forked tongues”. Remember UDA’s 100-day report returned blanks, or failed promises. UDA’s number two, Rigathi Gachagua, was no different. He still cries the loudest.
The two top whataboutism kings are Mr Ruto and Mr Gachagua. All the others below – be they MPs, ministers, or their subordinates – have followed suit. Every time a common citizen or a critic from Azimio asks a bona fide question, either Mr Ruto, or Mr Gachagua, and increasingly other UDA factotums like Mr Musalia Mudavadi, or Mr Aden Duale, stand up as though on cue. Usually, they will blame either Mr Kenyatta or Mr Odinga for an obscure wrong, or something irrelevant. What’s important is they never answer the question at hand, or pretend to do so. They never see the logs in their own eyes. Instead, they emote righteous anger and fulminate against their critics.
The most poignant is Mr Gachagua. Before the elections, Mr Gachagua was prosecuted by the Director of Public Prosecutions over unexplained wealth. The High Court found Sh202 million belonging to Mr Gachagua were proceeds of crime. The Asset Recovery Agency (ARA) seized the cash.
Now, the ARA has asked the Court of Appeal to set aside the High Court ruling based on “new” evidence to return Mr Gachagua’s money. Excuse me, do I look like I live in Mars? This stinks to the high heavens.
"Vanishing sins"
It seems all you have to do is be in UDA and your sins vanish into thin air. If you raise this question now, “whataboutists” spring up and list all of Mr Kenyatta’s “sins”.
So far, virtually all UDA politicians and officials who had been charged, or those whose assets had been seized during the Kenyatta state, are now being let go, or their assets returned. People with blatantly corrupt or criminal records have been appointed by Mr Ruto to the most senior positions in the country.
The government is overloaded with appointees from two communities. Inclusion is only a rumour. And yet when you ask these questions, even to those UDA adherents who are excluded, you get an “whataboutism” retort. Has Kenya become the theatre of the absurd? Who are we? Who have we become? Do we even recognise ourselves anymore?
Makau Mutua is SUNY Distinguished Professor and Margaret W. Wong Professor at Buffalo Law School, The State University of New York. @makaumutua.
Source: Sunday Nation tomorrow.
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