Parliament drama shows dictatorship by CORD MPs?

So much has been said about the State of the Nation Address and the conduct of a number of Members of Parliament. Initially, I was lost for words but now that I have them back, let me say by bit. First, it is completely acceptable, and a constitutional right to not want to hear a word of the speech. It is your right as a citizen of Kenya to decide that because you believe the President is on a PR spin campaign, you will not accord him or the speech a minute of your time. That is fine, dear Mheshimiwa.

But to blow whistles (much as I am happy for the whistle vendor who must have made a pretty shilling selling you them firimbis) during the speech, that is unacceptable and just plain wrong. Listen, in as much as you have the right to not want to listen to the speech, someone else has the right to listen to it, and for you to decide that just because you do not want to hear it no one else should, that beats the most basic form of logic. Look here, there is the President and then there is the Presidency. The first is a person, the latter, an institution. An institution you as well as the rest of us must respect, whoever the person may be that occupies it: be it Uhuru Kenyatta, Raila Odinga, Martha Karua- whomever.

I find it strange and eerily unsettling that you have never blown a single whistle when you all are deliberating on your pay hikes. I find it equally unnerving that you actually believe we owe you gratitude for your stand against what you call intolerance and dictatorship. Really? I would think that causing chaos during the speech is highly intolerant in itself. Further, you deciding that just because you do not want to listen to the hotuba, no one else will, is as dictatorial as the word gets: could this be the case of the kettle calling the pot black?

They say things always look different in the morning and I hope when you look at the clips of your behavior yesterday, and trust me they are in plenty, there will be no tinge of embarrassment. And here I don’t mean when you are in public, I mean in the comfort of your house, just before you turn off the lights. This is not about tribe, don’t trivialize it whatever your political affiliation is; it is not even about political parties: it is about someone whom upon having the choice to listen or not to listen decides they will not listen which is perfectly OK, until they make the mistake of deceiving themselves that just because they do not want to listen; no one else will. Live and let live: isn’t that what the old adage says?