CS Aden Duale explains his cryptic African proverbs on X

Environment Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has spoken about his cryptic posts across social media accounts over the recent past, which have continued to puzzle many Kenyans.

Speaking on Citizen TV’s JKLive Show on Wednesday night, CS Duale admitted that his African proverbs target key figures in government, including the impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, serving the purpose of shedding light on issues affecting the country.

Duale highlighted some of the proverbs he has posted recently, understating that the thinly-veiled proverbs also serve to illuminate current affairs, making them more understandable and relatable to ordinary citizens.

“Most of my African proverbs have certain meanings and they are related to what is happening in the country. So if I want to say something about Jeff Koinange, I don’t need to be direct, I will only need to look for a proverb that describes your situation,” he explained.

The CS as then put to task to explain some of the proverbs he has been posting, among them the following:

A cat that dreams of becoming a lion must lose its appetite for rats

Duale related the proverb to impeached DP Gachagua, saying that in his situation, he ought to have directed his focus on national duties rather than fighting leaders below him.

“To achieve greatness you must let go of old habits that could hold back your progress. If you want to climb the ladder and go up, you must not fight the small people; a cat eats rats, so if it wants to be in the class of lions, it must shift its behaviour,” he stated.

According to the Duale, Gachagua sensed his impending ouster but failed to do anything about it. Instead, the CS noted, he chose to go full-blown and ended up facing the consequences of his actions since he didn’t practice caution.

“This was for Riggy G; he knew these things were coming so he decided to use his both feet. He should have just tested, he never thought. If you ask him I am sure he will say he never thought. I was asking his friends and they were telling me they never thought this thing would reach the level it is. What you do with politics, you test with only left leg, if the river is very deep, you wait for another occasion. The moment you put two, you may be a victim of crocodile," Duale said.

CS Duale referenced the proverb too a leader's thirst for power, which he said keeps one busy fighting because of too much ambition.

If your only tool is a hammer you will see every problem as a nail

Duale explained that the obscure proverb suits people who use the same solution to every problem regardless of analysing its nature.

He said; “The guy who uses a hammer only deals every day with a nail, so if he gets annoyed with you, he will hit you with a hammer thinking you are a nail.”

He who looks for honey must have the courage to face the bees

CS Duale said he used the enigmatic saying to refer to Gachagua for failing to formulate a strategy to deal with the ‘Mt. Kenya problem he claims the ousted DP created for himself.

He went on to argue that Gachagua also failed in his efforts to rally Members of Parliament from his Mt. Kenya backyard on his side, thus he was unable to convince them to vote in his favour at the National Assembly and Senate.

"This was also for the current situation. Riggy G was looking for power and says he brought 7 million (votes), I don’t know from where. If you want to look for honey, you must find ways and strategies to deal with the bees (custodians of the honey); he didn’t have the strategy to deal with the Senate, National Assembly and even his own MPs from Mt Kenya," said Duale.

"The Mt. Kenya MPs are close to about 70, how come he had less than a dozen around him? Riggy G got stung with 282 MPs with about 30% from his bucket."