On Sunday activist Boniface Mwangi posted a photo of a crippled beggar crawling on all fours in front of Kenya’s parliament building.
A beggar crawls past Kenya’s house of greed pic.twitter.com/kW3Ghx0Vp5
— Boniface Mwangi (@bonifacemwangi) April 18, 2015
Then twitter went kaboom! A group of outraged twitter users pounced taking issue with Mwangi’s post. Leading the charge was Njeri Atieno Thorne, a local communications consultant, who accused Mwangi of selling out his country by fixating on its negative aspects.
@bonifacemwangi @gathara A photographer capitalises on our problems for publicity.
— Njeri Atieno Thorne (@NjeriThorne) April 19, 2015
@morogasenior@bonifacemwangi@gathara Yet to see any change effected by our lad Boni’s incessant bashing of Kenya.
— Njeri Atieno Thorne (@NjeriThorne) April 19, 2015
Thorne wasn’t just angry about Mwangi’s latest photo but also about a TED Talk he recently gave in the US. Thorne all but accused Mwangi of being a misguided agent of western countries who want to see Kenya fail.
@gathara @bonifacemwangi @Kinyatti_N He did a Ted talk recently. Trashing Kenya…played a part in further tarnishing the image of Kenya.
— Njeri Atieno Thorne (@NjeriThorne) April 19, 2015
@gathara @bonifacemwangi @Kinyatti_N Ted talk is a global platform …who in their right mind would bash their country?
— Njeri Atieno Thorne (@NjeriThorne) April 19, 2015
@gathara@bonifacemwangi@Kinyatti_N No westerner would be given a platform to trash their own country. Our lad Boni is none the wiser! — Njeri Atieno Thorne (@NjeriThorne) April 19, 2015
Those on Mwangi’s side (full disclosure: yours truly counts himself among this number) quickly came to his defense. Chief among them was local columnist and cartoonist Patrick Gathara.
@NjeriThorne Sure. Let’s get outraged at the photographer who dares show us the truth! Ignore the turds in office. @bonifacemwangi
— gathara (@gathara) April 19, 2015
@NjeriThorne How does this photo bash Kenya? @morogasenior @bonifacemwangi
— gathara (@gathara) April 19, 2015
@NjeriThorne Easier, I guess, to rubbish the guy who points out their incompetence and corruption. @bonifacemwangi
— gathara (@gathara) April 19, 2015
@NjeriThorne This is a joke. GoK tarnishing our image constantly. Boni guilty of not letting them cover that up. @bonifacemwangi@Kinyatti_N
— gathara (@gathara) April 19, 2015
Central to this twitter one-upmanship between Thorne and Gathara is the question: who is a patriot? Thorne thinks Mwangi is an unpatriotic sellout because he criticizes the way Kenya is run not just locally but on global platforms like TED. Gathara argues those same traits make Mwangi a patriot whose example should be followed by other Kenyans. My two cents on this is Gathara is absolutely right. Kenya needs more people like Boniface Mwangi.
Thorne wants a Kenya where every citizen is a head-down striver working to improve their lot while turning a blind eye to how their hard-earned money is stolen by a rapacious and soulless elite. This see-no-evil, hear-no-evil approach only benefits those who are intent on Kenya remaining a dysfunctional kleptocracy. Mwangi offers a better alternative to achieving sustainable and equitable progress in Kenya. If that’s not patriotism then, to paraphrase William Shakespeare, such a thing never existed.
