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According to Michael Omondi, a photo with President Uhuru Kenyatta has brought him misfortune The photo is being used in several billboards across Nairobi
In 2013, Michael ‘Drogba’ Omondi, a 27-year-old man from Mukuru kwa Njenga, had the rare opportunity to meet the President.
He was working at JKIA airport when President Kenyatta paid the airport a visit to commission the construction of a terminal.
It was the opportunity Michael had been hoping to one day get. A struggling youth from the hood, he wished to mention to the President the unique challenges they faced, with many of his peers dying needlessly.
It was not to be, however. He was not able to get the face time he had hoped for, but Michael did get a fist bump from the President, one which was captured on camera and which featured prominently in the news the next day.
That photo moment, according to Michael, has been a source of endless misfortune for him.
“I was informed some time back that my photo was being used on a Jubilee billboard in Westlands. It came as a shock to me, because no one had notified me of this or even sought my consent to feature me on a billboard,” he says.
“I later came to learn that there are several others, one around City Mortuary and another on Jogoo Road, and these are just the ones we know about. My friends who have seen the billboards kept asking me if I now work for Jubilee,” Michael explains.
“I’m an ODM supporter myself, and I had hoped to vie for the position of ODM Chairman. But when they saw the posters, they turned me down saying I was campaigning for the government.”
The poster, Michael claims, is being used to promote a message that the President is social and in touch with the youth.
