Opposition got it wrong by disrupting Uhuru speech

Henry Munene

If there is one thing you’ve got like about Kenyan politicians, it has to be the comical way they try to turn around an embarrassing moment into one of heroism. Last week, I watched as a few Opposition MPs staged one of the most abhorrent acts in the history of democracy. When the group whistling to disrupt the President’s State of the Nation address was shooed out of the House, I tried to reach one of them. I wanted to find out what they did not want us to hear the President say. Or what the spectacle was all about. Of course I did not get any answer. I almost broke my ribs the following day, upon hearing the hopelessly flimsy rationalisation for that patently undemocratic act.

The whistling crew argued they did not want to hear ‘Jubilee propaganda’. Now, for members of a party with the word ‘democracy’ smack in the middle of its name, it was an irony of historic proportions. From the days of saba saba protests in the 90s, which forced the repeal of Section 2a and multi-party democracy, the Opposition has always upheld the right of everyone to be heard. They have always been on the right side of history.