Heckling: Expression of discontent or a sign of what is coming?

A story is told of the unfortunate primary school teacher in Kiambu, a Mr Joseph Mwaura, who was forced by the then District Commissioner (DC) to shave his goatee in public without the benefit of water and shaving cream in 1989. His sin was to not to look the teacher he ought to be.

It was a news item in the media then. I am not sure of the reaction (the victim and the public) were to happen today. We have come a long way.

The DC was a tyrant and their word was law. He even had the power to dismiss civil servants on the sport if they were found to have "misbehaved".

Gone are the days when authority was respected and feared.

The 2010 Constitution was declared one of the most progressive in the world. And why not; in the Bill of Rights, The Constitution of Kenya 2010 guarantees many rights to the citizens. One of these rights is freedom of association and the right to picket if people feel offended.

As the campaign season sets in, a new trend has emerged where the citizens have learnt to express dissent through heckling leaders in public barazas. This kind of dissent has never been expressed this way before.

Heckling leaders has now become a common occurrence and no one is spared. In Isiolo President Uhuru Kenyatta faced hostile crowd at a campaign rally last week. Loud chants of unga! unga! (maize flour) rent the air. After five minutes of unsuccessfully calming the crowd, he decided to stop it there and left. The President is not the only one who has faced the wrath of an agitated crowd.

Most of the other contenders including NASA's Raila Odinga and his running mate have on countless occasions faced hostile crowds. So what is really happening? Is this a sign of people learning to express their frustrations? Though at times, some of the leaders receive a rousing welcome even when they don't make much sense.

Strangely, public rallies have become the forum where citizens come to "punish and reward" their leaders according to what they perceive of them. This new ways of expressing opinion stems from frustration by the wananchi to show disapproval of the way things are. Is it that the people want to be heard and have tired of the leaders talking to them. Social scientists might want to find out. May be for far too long, the message has been in one direction.

Is it time to have a dialogue rather than a dialogue? Or is it that the people are well informed? Does that speak about the level of scrutiny leaders are subjected to nowadays? If nothing else, the 2010 Constitution has made the people discover themselves anew; that they actually have the power to shape their destiny.

Some time last year, a governor from northern Kenya was publicly humiliated by a crowd in front President Kenyatta. He had to abandon his speech as the crowds chanted mwizi, mwizi (thief, thief). They were venting their frustration because they felt the governor had not performed to their expectation or had embezzled "their money".

As a child, I remember public gatherings were considered sacred. The chief had the power to force businesses closed so that people could go and attend the baraza. Those days, red-shirted Kanu youth wingers used their batons to chase people to barazas?

If a president can be shouted down, then Kenya has come a long way. Does this mean the next government whether NASA or Jubilee will be more scrutinised? It could also be that the people have become their own police having lost faith in the police, the Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission, the Director of Public Prosecution, the DCI and other government agencies?

This new found sense of freedom has the potential to cause anarchy as well. Especially if in the aftermath of the General Election the people feel that the election results have been compromised, the newly found sense of freedom to picket could encourage people to take the law into their own hands.

I recall some lines in JB Yeats seminal poem The Second Coming: The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world...

Mr Gulied is the Deputy Governor, Isiolo County

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