As Our National Troubles Continue, Regional Neighbours Have Now Started Attacking Us Publicly
As our ever-increasing national problems continue to pile up, neighboring countries have now gathered enough audacity to publicly and fearlessly ridicule us online, a stark contrast to the days when Kenya would mercilessly annihilate anyone trying to even remotely mention our name in vain.
Lately, netizens from Tanzania, Uganda, and even Rwanda have been throwing jabs at us, especially after suffering yet another national calamity – floods, blackouts, increased taxation, bad policies etc, etc.
Kenya, recognized globally as an economic bastion and a stable pillar of governance, democracy, and infrastructural excellence, has lately been in the news for all the wrong reasons as Kenyans grapple with a myriad of politically machinated troubles that have badly dented our reputation and made us a regional laughing stock.
For instance, Kenya has experienced three national blackouts over the last four months alone. Every time this happened, our national airport the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) has been plunged into darkness as the leaders responsible for the embarrassing mishaps keep issuing hollow ultimatums with zero impact.
The blackouts, in particular, have given our online neighbors the impetus to throw jabs at us, a rather daring endeavor they would not otherwise pulled just over a year ago.
One of Tanzania’s online media outlets Jamii Forums has also particularly taken part in the Kenya roasting spree, highlighting President William Ruto’s incessant foreign trips which Kenyans have roundly decried ever since he was sworn to office.
For Tanzanians especially, our pride in having a proper grasp of the English language, coupled with our perceived national aloofness and arrogance, is making the bulk of their vitriol towards us – we’re being mocked as the country with a proper grasp of English but no food and no electricity.
“Jirani hana umeme, hana unga, anaongea tu kiingereza kwa giza,” one cheeky tweet read.
Uganda too has joined the fray and netizens from the landlocked country, plagued with dictatorship and economic turmoil, are also not holding back on their subliminal attacks – they’re now doing them a little more brazenly and even calling us out by name.
Kenya’s online community is a ferocious lot who have, in the past, floored mighty giants from Nigeria to South Africa. We’ve even managed to make CNN, a multi-billion dollar international media corporation, eat the humble pie after they rubbed us the wrong way on a malicious news piece.
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Soon after mortifying videos of JKIA’s leaking terminals went viral, the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority publicly urged their citizens to ‘ignore a trending video of the leaking roof of an airport’.
Through a statement, the authority termed the incident as an ‘unfortunate situation at an airport in a neighboring country’
“Please ignore the trending video, some WhatsApp users have wrongly attributed it to Entebbe International Airport,” the statement read.
“Note that this is not Entebbe International Airport.”
While it was a subtle statement, it was immediately translated as a dig at Kenya – and, ultimately, an invitation to an online brawl.
At the height of the Azimio anti-government protests too, President Samia Suluhu of Tanzania didn’t hide her feelings when she proudly claimed that investors were now picking Tanzania as their preferred investment hub after seeing that the ‘neighbors were on fire’.
“Kati ya mwezi wa May na Juni, tumepokea wawekezaji wengi mno. Lakini ukitizama sababu ni nini. Sababu ni kwamba kwa jirani kunawaka moto…” she made the remarks at a public Islamic function in Zanzibar.
The trend has worried some Kenyans who are yet to believe that they will live to see a day when the likes of Tanzania and her ilk will be so brazenly attacking us and making such a contemptuous mockery of us.
While attaching screenshots of a couple of punches Tanzanian media had thrown our way, one Kenyan X (formerly Twitter) user said, “Tanzania media is having a ball with our bunch of clowns in Government!”
One user agreed, saying, “At what point do we realize we’ve hit the lowest of lows…being subbed right, left and center! And by countries who could not hold a candle to us not so long ago! It’s like the United States getting cooked by akina Venezuela and Honduras! We’ve lost our glory! What a shame!”
The attacks, while done innocuously and probably in good humor, seem to be here to stay. Especially if the government continues splurging out the ceaseless blunders and the political class doesn’t sit upright and fix the reeking rot this country has sadly slid into.
And unlike in the days gone, when Kenyans would proudly and pompously tear into anyone trying to ruffle feathers, we now seem to have resigned to our fate and don’t have the fiery mojo required to bite back.
It appears like our claws have not only been clipped but our fangs have been bloodily snuffed out too.
As Our National Troubles Continue, Regional Neighbours Have Now Started Attacking Us Publicly
