69-year-old Farah Maalim Vs Gen Zs… What’s the dangerous obsession?

Daadab Member of Parliament Farah Maalim, a recent staunch supporter of President William Ruto, looks hell-bent on making Ruto’s advice to parents fly in the face as he uses expletives and unprintable adjectives towards the youthful Gen Zs who criticize the government online. 

It is of course shocking and unbelievable that he does this right in the presence of the President at a public meeting. One would be left to wonder whether the words spewing from Maalim’s mouth would make his grandchildren proud of him? At 69 years, the MP is likely to be a grandfather.

"When you see everything progressing and then some fools say ‘Kasongo Ruto must go.’ To hell with those who say that! Is he sitting in your mother’s or father’s seat? He is sitting in our seat, and we will re-elect him; we will deliver 99% or even 100%. We are saying Ruto will stay until 2032," Maalim stated, adding unprintable insults directed towards youthful Kenyans.

Almost six months ago, at the height of the Gen Z protests, the Daadab MP was trending on local news channels for all the wrong reasons again.

Speaking in his local dialect, Somali, the Wiper MP was quoted saying if he was Kenya’s supremo, he would have clamped down ruthlessly on the youthful demonstrators and could “even have killed 5000 of them each day”. 

The public was aghast with his level of callousness and many even wondered if this was the cool rational MP who had always kept to Kalonzo Musyoka diplomatic side in the Wiper Party. 

Utterly irked by his remarks, the Wiper Party took a decision to de-whip him from all committees in parliament. He was subsequently summoned by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission and ordered to record a statement on the same. 

Maalim appeared before the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) to record a statement on July 16, 2024.

According to NCIC, the MP’s remarks were likely to incite hostility and discrimination. "The utterances are likely to incite feelings of contempt, hatred, hostility, violence or discrimination, and affect harmonious coexistence between groups of different political affiliations in Kenya, contrary to Section 13 (1) (a) of the NCI Act.”

In showing the true colors of a Kenyan politician, the MP shortly spoke from two sides of the same mouth. He denied his participation or link to the clear viral video in which he advocated for the deaths of Gen Zs and instead offered that the video did not reflect his position as a community leader and his reputation built over many years.

Like a bull in a china shop or a court jester who’s overly enthusiastic to please his master, matters of cordiality and decorum are not within his domain in communicating delicate matters in society. The 69-year-old is like a man on a warpath with the Gen Zs and whether it is lack of knowledge, hatred, apathy or arrogance, he spews vitriol and unprintable words towards his perceived enemies in a manner unbecoming of a man of his age and stature in society. 

Maybe the Gen Zs have touched a raw nerve in the member of parliament that has brought the worst yet in him. 

But as even the President pleads with parents to embrace their parental responsibilities, teach them the word of God, and advise them against bad behavior; his work is made very difficult by parents and grandparents who in their old age are competing with the youth in being uncouth. 

The President said that the government cannot take over the responsibilities of parents, so who will parent the parents and grandparents?