Why Muturi must watch out 

The only time I ever came anywhere close to National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi was not a happy occasion; I was in the dock charged with careless or reckless driving and he was the resident magistrate in Thika back in the 1990s. 

It so happened that the night before, I had rammed into a stationary lorry that had stalled in the middle of a winding road. Not only was the decrepit contraption without any lights or anything else to indicate its presence, it also happened to be owned by a local tycoon, now deceased, who was said to have pocketed the local police chiefs.

As matters turned out, Mr J.B. Muturi threw out the charge because the lorry was in such poor shape that when he asked for evidence of my alleged carelessness, there was no exhibit. Indeed, the only sign that anything had happened at all was my wreck of a car which had been towed to the police station. I was extremely relieved, for the man was known to take a dim view of errant drivers. 

That, in essence, is all I know about Mr Muturi which, clearly, is not enough to judge him. However, from May 22, he is supposed to be my community spokesman on matters political.

Succession politics

I don’t know exactly what Mr Muturi’s new role means, but being named the Mt Kenya spokesman raised the hackles of a number of politicians in the region. My advice to him is not to take this thing too seriously otherwise his reputation as Speaker for the past eight years will be in tatters before he knows it. Politics, indeed, is a dirty game, and when it comes to presidential succession politics, it is bound to get even messier thus dirtying him, a fate that Mr Muturi can escape only if he navigates his moves carefully, avoiding the booby traps ahead.

First of all, though he may have name recognition, he may be unable to galvanise the kind of support needed to propel him to higher office. As a pundit recently pointed out, the Gema community never recognised paramount chiefs. However, they feared those imposed by the colonialists in ages past. Secondly, there are all signs that the man is being set up for use by people who believe that political power should not stray too far from their clutches, and what can be set up can also be ignominiously dumped.

It is true that the Gema community has a right, like any other, to jostle for positions of influence in the new dispensation. Mt Kenya is a vote-rich region and whoever harvests those votes has a strong chance of forming the next government. However, the fact is, only a few people at the top of the food chain are worried about their political careers should the unexpected happen.

My unsolicited advice to Mr Muturi is to be as astute as he was as a magistrate, and recognise humbug when he sees it. For instance, the hullabaloo about the use of the Kikuyu shrine in Murang’a has little to do with the holiness of the place and everything to do with local politicians with elevated ambitions throwing tantrums because they were overlooked. As for those politicians from Mt Kenya East who profess to support him, they will probably also throw him to the dogs once they understand that he cannot help them realise their dreams.

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On matters of language use, I am not fond of nitpicking, because English, after all, is not our mother-tongue, but there are some linguistic habits that irritate because they indicate a marked paucity of thought. Fellow journalists are especially guilty when they get it wrong repeatedly which is why I call it a bad habit. Among the phrases that are really jarring are those that come quite close in spelling but are miles away from the intended meaning. What, for instance, does it mean for a person to “wreck” havoc?

Early in the week, I was puzzled when a reporter told us that Lady Justice Martha Koome had taken up the “reigns” of power after her swearing in as Chief Justice. I simply could not visualise that happening even in a metaphorical sense. One can only guess that the reporter was actually talking about taking the “reins” of power which in itself is just a banal expression that masks intellectual laziness. Why not just say Mrs Koome took over the job from the acting CJ?

There are many other words and phrases that leave one scratching one’s head in bemusement, among them to “wrestle’’ something from someone. While it is possible to “wrest” whatever it is from an opponent -- be it political power or material object-- wrestling it from him or her is inconceivable. 

Pointing out such foibles of language use can be tricky, for one may be accused of linguistic snobbery, but every writer has to be sensitive to the meaning of words. That is what makes effective writing so difficult as opposed to just pouring out words on a page to fill space.

Mr Ngwiri is a consultant editor; [email protected]