Yvonne's Take: The 'invisible gorilla experiment' in Kenyan politics

Participants were shown a video in which two teams, one in black shirts and the other in white shirts passing a ball to each other. The participants were told to focus on the players and count how many times the players in the white shirts passed the ball to those in the black shirts. Halfway through the video, a gorilla walks right across the screen, stands in the middle, pounds his chest and then walks off. 

The participants were then asked whether they saw the gorilla. About half of them saw it, but yet the other half did not see the gorilla at all. But rather focused on the number of passes of the ball between the two teams. 

This study was designed to show how human beings can sometimes focus on the very obvious simply because they have been told to focus on something else. 

The lessons here abound, but also for our political space. You see, oftentimes, we are deliberately led or asked to focus on other things, to distract us from the most obvious and the most important. This experiment will make sense in Kenya’s political context. 

So when the governing party raptures, there is a lot of water that goes under the bridge, and there is a problem there because essential matters of governance can actually disappear under the proverbial carpet. So a story can be thrown around or should I say a rabbit and the big chase begins? I should admit, the chase will involve the national media, big headline here, big headline there. Massive discussion panels left, right and centre. And something of national interest suffers. Something greater is lost. This is an age-old trick and tactic in Kenya. Let me take you back in time. 

Somewhere in the mid-90s, a story is told of an epic phantom chase. Kenyans were told that some foreign country working with supposed dissidents was planning to overthrow the government of the day. Overnight, the nation was turned into a festival of rage, much of it staged. Choreographed demonstrations complete with the burning of effigies were held across the country, including in small distant places where effigies were not even a concept that could be related. 

The country was told of one General Odongo and the Feb 18 Movement, and yes, the Feb 18 Revolutionary Army, FERA. This was supposedly a fearsome rebel movement allegedly backed by elements in Uganda and Libya. Such a movement is purportedly on its way to overthrowing the good, long-serving government of the party of Kenya’s Independence KANU and its leader, the second president Daniel Arap Moi. 

All subsequent studies suggest this was the greatest national farce in the history of Kenyan politics. It was a wild goose chase aimed at taking the pressure off of the KANU government by multi-party reformists. So, I know there is no connection between FERA and the present-day rebel- like eruption in UDA. But all I’m saying is, “In politics, smokescreens can be part of the detail.” And not to dismiss the substance of the wrangles in UDA, but questions have to be raised on just how much lies beneath that huge smoke. Here’s what lies beneath that huge smoke. 

Junior Secondary School education remains at a standstill, with teachers on strike. Kenyans who were affected by the floods are still picking up the pieces. Clinical officers and lab technicians remain on strike. There are proposals in the Finance Bill 2024 that experts say could make life even more difficult than last year under the current Finance Act of 2023. 

Lest we forget, there was a fertiliser scandal that rocked this nation just a few weeks ago, with culprits yet to be brought to book. So many issues to focus on, yet we are focusing on some bickering here and there. Does this seem familiar to the invisible gorilla experiment, in which participants were asked to focus on the ball passing but failed to notice the very obvious gorilla? 

Folks, keep your eyes on the gorilla; the bigger issues, the ones that are more important. In the midst of all the rabbits being thrown in our faces, keep your focus. 

That is my take tonight.