Alas, CORD revolution shall be televised for the benefit of ‘Wanjiku’ and her ilk

It’s been a long time coming, this CORD revolution that seeks to save our country from itself, a claim it makes expressly in the name of the Okoa Kenya initiative.

For a while, the initiative has been moving with the slow, deliberate calculation of that Jubilee train, the one that is hailed to have the power to open up the country and the region whenever it is done, but which, for the moment, makes one step forward and two steps back because workers go on strike every other day.

Yet if there is any lesson to be picked from history, it is that railroad constructions are fraught with the risk of labour unrest, so one should prepare accordingly.

But the ‘vigogo’ from CORD, to use the term usually applied to describe the party leadership, with former PM Tinga in the driver’s seat, did not seem to anticipate a certain cadre of workers could go on strike and leading TV stations going off.

But that’s not exactly what happened early this week, unless you talk to Communications Authority boss, one Francis Wangusi.

You all must be familiar with the sort of exchanges between TV bosses, but the three stations, now labelled the Big Three, have been off-air all week.

Since I am not bright enough to follow the arguments on the two sides – that’s why I write for a newspaper in the first place – let me tell you what I know: the Big Three screens are off air and so the young man of the house is enjoying uninterrupted hours of Nickelodeon nonsense.

But why should the CORD revolution be delayed, if not derailed, because Big Three television is off? Why should the party dither after months of blistering treks across the country mobilising support for their cause - getting signatures from millions at the last count - in a bid to compel the Government to call for a referendum that will essentially seek its recall?

Put another way, if CORD has a critical mass of signatories who have rallied to their cause, what does it matter if the party cannot beam its messages on TV screens, when it has won the hearts and minds of its followers?

Tinga says he does not expect fair coverage from the national broadcaster, and points to the week’s coverage in which his party activities were eclipsed.

Let’s pause for a moment and consider some questions: TV is not real, although I hear there is something called reality TV, but I am yet to see Tinga on any such programme.

MEMORABLE QUIP

 

So, the idea that actual events like the meeting of CORD supporters to launch their initiative are contingent on TV coverage raises interesting questions, such as its leadership loves hogging the limelight or that their acts are only cultivated towards achieving that.

Which is not bad at all; as a matter of fact, there is nothing as refreshing as a sound-bite from Tinga, the sort that he delivers in between chuckles.

Here is one memorable quip Tinga made this week in reference to the claim that some folks are reputed to have eaten lots of ‘chicken’ from a British firm.

“Kama amekula chicken huko, aende akule maharagwe...” (if he has eaten chicken there (in Britain), he should go in and eat the beans...)

There are select places in this country where people routinely feast on beans for lunch and dinner, and that’s prison. But only Tinga can deliver such pithy statements made specially for television. So the revolution that Tinga promised Wanjiku, the subaltern citizen, will have to wait until his moment of television glory is fully guaranteed.