You are blind and deaf: King Kaka’s truth stirs Kenya

Rapper King Kaka Sungura (pictured) took the country by storm yesterday with his new song Wajinga Nyinyi (you are fools) calling out Kenyans for their hypocrisy.

Through a hard knuckle approach, he lays bare the corruption that has mauled all sectors of the economy, provoking some political leaders who responded fiercely through social media platforms.

He boldly says Kenya is being run by thieves, chiding Kenyans that they are yet again set to elect such politicians in 2022. “2022 already si mnajua nani ni prezzi, si mnajua Nyinyi voters ndio washenzi,” he sings.

He uploaded his performance in two versions on You Tube: a black and white video of the artist and sign language interpreter performing, and another is a lyrics video. By yesterday afternoon, the six minutes 47 seconds video on YouTube had more than 58,000 views while the lyrics version had 14,000.

The artist does not mince words as he devises a provocative technique to drive his point home, revealing the ugly skeleton structure of Kenya fractured by evil of corruption that has permeated all sectors.

Like Kenya’s national anthem, the spoken word poetic performance opens with a prayerful salutation to God whom he thanks for giving him life. It is followed by the gist of the performance where the artist pours his bitter heart out with disheartening observations about the failing leadership.

Big names

The bitter insults satirise leaders for failing the country and voters for blindly dancing to the tunes of politicians. He questions voters’ forgetfulness, ridiculing them for turning against each other during elections.

Piga tu kura na utalala bila kula a night of tears (Just vote and you will go to bed hungry in a night of tears),” raps Kaka as the lyrics are translated by a female sign language interpreter in a deliberate move to ensure no audience is left out.

The artist singing in sheng fearlessly alludes to big names cited in mega corruption cases that have shocked Kenya. The names include governors Mike Sonko (Nairobi) and Ferdinand Waititu (Kiambu).

“City Stadium imekuwa renovation for three years budget ziwatoshe, while Sonko anadance tu kwa ofe,” the lyrics go. “Uko na account offshore zimejaa money na account ya daughter ya Waititu iko na 100 mita ukibebwa kortini ni escort ya polisi kama sita”

With the sad mood captured by a plain background tune and dull video in black and white, the artist does not spare any sector of the economy as he lays bare how the government has shortchanged its citizens.

In education, King Kaka sings of how leaders have disregarded the system while sending their children to study overseas. As a result, there are jobless and miserable graduates holding placards as they desperately plead for employment. Despite their joblessness, the artist criticises Higher Education Loans Board (Helb) for threatening to publicise loan defaulters in newspapers.

“Time will tell, vijana wanabet to kifo, Inadai betting imewapea job kuwaliko,” the rapper sings as he makes hand gestures.

He ridicules President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration for ignoring the youth and hiring old retirees, singing, “The youth ni Moody at 90 and Gikonyo at 80,” and the only way to be employed is when you retire.

He dismisses some of Jubilee’s projects, including Huduma Number, which he says was a scam, as well as primary schools’ laptops project. He also accuses Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) of stealing from Kenyans and Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK) of robbing artists of their earnings.

King Kaka sings of stalled projects, politicians stashing stolen money in offshore accounts, leaders squandering taxpayers’ money by holding non-viable retreats while the sports sector is deprived of funds, forcing the Harambee Stars to spend a night on cement floors while out respresenting the country in competition.

The police are not spared as Kaka accuses law enforcement officers who, despite living in squalor conditions, of working with criminals.

On the health sector, he reminds Kenyans how they cannot afford treatment because leaders have mismanaged the sector only for them to travel abroad for better medication. He dismisses the war in Somalia as a funded project that has cost many lives Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) officers their lives. He also mocks the usual praise of military and police in Kenya, saying despite their decorated performance, they are unable to deliver when needed most. He cites the recent case in Mombasa where mother and daughter drowned and their bodies were recovered days later.

The artist, who also mocked Chief Justice David Maraga’s demand for better cars, said he had no comment to make after the song.

“No comment,” he told Sunday Standard when reached to explain if he felt threatened after releasing the song.

On twitter, King Kaka’s song was trending with more than 19,000 tweets by afternoon yesterday under the hashtag #Wajinga Nyinyi.

Kenyans poured praises on the performance and the daring nature of the artist. However, some political leaders felt chided and responded angrily.

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Former Kathiani MP tweeted through her Wavinya Ndeti Press Team, “@RabbitTheKing must be called out, you cannot abuse elected leaders simply because you want to seek relevance, we must draw the line on content creation. You can actually pass your message without dragging anyone disrespectfully.” 

In response, some Kenyans trolled her for being unaccommodating to the truth.

Former presidential candidate Mwalimu Abduba Dida posted” “Kenya has about 50 million citizens and less than 2,000 elective positions. Ironically, when Kenyans get the opportunity to vote, they always pick the worst possible choices then spend the following five years crying. #WajingaNyinyi is a good piece of activist art. Thank you.”

“Hate him or love him The Swahili Shakespeare is not scared by those greedy, corrupt and wolves in sheep’s cloth,” posted Timothy Manoise.

Kaka echoes the criticism of other artists including Sauti Sol and Nyashinski who have also expressed similar concerns in their hit Tujiangalie (let’s scrutinize ourselves), criticising false development in Kenya.

But Kaka goes head on in his approach as he concludes in the song, “Hata kama tuko na Kenyatta, ndio maana strongly feel hatujapata uhuru.”