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Jokes aside, Kenya is becoming a huge theatre of the absurd

Henry Munene

NAIROBI: One of the most confounding things about Kenya today is our sense of logic. Take for instance the case of that man, whom we have now nicknamed James Bond. Here is a man who caused a spectacle when he was captured on video hitching a ride on a chopper ferrying a coffin to a funeral. The video of the man clinging onto the landing skids of the chopper and dangling precariously from the skies – legs flailing with either fear or excitement - became for us a sensation of heroic proportions, hence the sobriquet, ‘James Bond’. Seriously? Okay, I don’t judge, but what would lead a 42-year-old father to steal a ride from a funeral chopper? Welcome to the Kenya of the year of our lord 2016.

The farce does not end with the trip. Barely a month after James Bond did his thing, and before even the case is over in court, people come out falling over one another to have a piece of James Bond. So this week, the man was treated to a real flight to the city where businessmen and even foundations accorded him hero’s treatment. He was even given some Sh300,000 to start a business. Okay, maybe it’s just me, but what is the connection between hitching a ride on a chopper and starting a business?

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