Of cartoons, jokes and the aborted trip

I like newspaper cartoons and lately, my children have inducted me into the Hall of Nickelodeon and Tom and Jerry.

The thing with a cartoon is its satirical spell. I remember a cartoon published in the Society Magazine during the clamour for multi-partyism.

Then President Moi was on the wheel of a van with his revered rungu tucked in his armpit. Inside were four Kanu stalwarts who were against political pluralism: Joseph Kamotho (deceased), Katana Ngala, the George Saitoti (deceased) and Kalonzo Musyoka.

Coming onto a four-way junction, Mr Moi asked his passengers whether he should turn left or right, and the answers conflicted. Then the cartoonist let the President give his verdict: "The decision is unanimous, let us drive straight on!''

That is exactly what happened during the 1991 Kasarani Conference that saw Mr Moi decree the repeal of Section 2(a) that made Kenya constitutionally a one-party state, to the surprise of the 'Kanu damu' group.

The second cartoon had the same characters with Mr Moi inside State House and to symbolise the riots in the streets, there were rocks falling on the roof of the big office. The cartoonist captured Mr Kamotho with his trade-mark long hair combed backwards, answering Mr Moi's question on what the noise was about.

"You Excellency, it is raining outside!"

Still a third one from that era was a Bogi Benda comic strip on the former Foreign Affairs minister Robert Matano, who boarded a train near his Mazeras home for the journey to Nairobi, where he expected his driver to be waiting in an official limousine. But because there were no mobile phones or SMSes then, he missed out on the news that he had been "sacked with immediate effect''.

When he alighted, he was received by the bearer of the 'good' and the 'bad' news, who then asked him which news he preferred first, and he said "the bad". "The bad news is that you have been fired with immediate effect and the good news is there is a GK lorry waiting to transport you, your family and your belongings to Mazeras!"

Most recently, I remember an unpublished one that had Mwai Kibaki sprawled on the rail track with his golf stick. The oncoming train had the face of Raila Odinga. Mr Moi, who was standing aside, was telling Mr Kibaki that he would die if he thought he could stand in the way of Mr Odinga's locomotive.

The best in recent times, however, is the one on 'The Hustler' jet owner getting a VIP massage up in the air.

We have had countless on President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto, among the most memorable being the two dancing to the tune of power with legs tied to The Hague iron-ball. The others on Mr Ruto, which for some reason cast him sporting a turban, were also fodder for followers of newspaper cartoons and social media sites.

The cartoons sum up a bad or good situation in a way it gives comic relief just as in the Churchill Show, Hapa Kule News and Mshamba TV comedy. Every newspaper aspires to have the best and most memorable. On television you would remember Redykyulass, with Nyambane acting as Mr Moi. We all laughed and because the Kanu government never censured it, it was assumed Mr Moi was a fan Number One. I mean, who wouldn't laugh at the agility of Mr Moi gyrating to the tune of Ndombolo, if that were to happen.

The programme gave us the opportunity hear things we knew we would not from Mr Moi, but through his impostor. Last month, US President Barack Obama, when invited to give his speech at the annual correspondents' dinner, invited comedian Keegan-Michael Key, who he said was His Anger Translator.

When he spoke a line and paused, the comedian would, with a shrill voice, give what he saw as the extreme interpretation of what he actually meant. Albeit with a measure of trepidation because of the danger involved in President Kenyatta's bungled flight to US, there too was fodder for comic strips. I mean, all my adult life, I have never heard of a President whose flight had to be cancelled over such level of callous negligence – by flying him into a warzone.

So the President is seen off at the airport and thereafter, his handlers left, some to bed others to have a few rounds for the evening. Then 90 minutes later they are told the boss was landing in 30 minutes. In the morning Kenyans are told the President is not out of the country after all. Sometime that day he retreats to Sagana Lodge, Nyeri, to 'cool off".

Then there was this joke going round on social media; the First Lady is asking her husband whether there was a trip or was it an excuse for some mischief. Then the President responds: "Haki ni ukweli, ask Ruto, he saw me take off at the airport!"

Friends, in the spirit of Labour Day, make sure you laugh heartily today. Be happy for we only live once.

I am sure you can hear me laugh heartily at the joke.