JAMILA'S MEMO: Deny, deny, deny!

It is one of the oldest tricks in the Kenyan book. You simply say it did not happen. Uliskia wapi? Nani alikuambia? Deny, deny, deny. Is it sunrise? No, it is not. Is it midday? Who told you? Is it sunset? Of course not. Wait for official confirmation. Is today Thursday? No, it is not. Nani alikuambia?

That is how we do it in Kenya. By the way, was any money lost in that grand project? Which money? Maybe only seven shillings. But actually nothing was lost. Denial, denial, denial. Did abductions happen? Which abductions? Who? Who told you? And if they happened, maybe they abducted themselves. Was Senegal eliminated from the World Cup last night? Of course not. Hiyo ni porojo ya watu wa magazeti. Fake news. Fake media. Unpatriotic journalists.

So, what do we intend to gain with these denials? How far are we willing to go denying everything? Even the obvious? Even what has been recorded or has been seen? Even what has evidence kwa kalatas? Because that is where we are now. We no longer deny only what is hidden. We deny what is in broad daylight. We deny families crying on camera. We deny people disappearing. We deny people reappearing with stories of what happened to them.

We deny, then appoint a committee, then promise investigations and then blame the opposition or blame the media or even the activists. In fact, we deny, then blame Kenyans for asking questions. There comes a time when denial stops being strategy and becomes insult. An insult to victims, to families, to the public and an insult to plain common sense. Because if a citizen disappears, the answer cannot be: “Who told you?” If a mother is looking for her child, the answer cannot be: “That is fake news.”

Denial may buy time, but it does not build trust nor does it heal wounds or bring back the dead. And it certainly does not make the truth disappear. So maybe tonight, before we deny the next thing, we should ask ourselves one simple question: If everything is fake, if everything is propaganda and if everything is porojo ya watu wa magazeti, then why are so many families still crying?

And by the way I am not Jamila, absolutely not and this is definitely not my memo