The Most Powerful Luo Man in the World

In 2007, my friends and I were just about to sit for our Bar Exams as Kenya prepared for the general election and Barack Obama marched inexorably towards the presidency of the United States. Mr Obama, a Senator from Illinois, had visited Kenya in 2006 and made statements about governance and corruption that had driven leading lights in Mwai Kibaki's government livid because, in the words of some of them, "Some juniour senator didn't have the authority to lecture Kenyans about domestic issues." My friends and I didn't really care, one way or the other, and especially Paul and I were alive to the peculiarities of Kenya's politicians and their ways.

Paul and I had a joke that drove the more ardent Kibaki fanbase at the Law School up the wall. In our estimation, the United States would elect a Luo president before Kenya ever did. To ram the point further down their throats, we declared with our characteristic lawyerly air of authority that Raila Odinga would win the 2007 presidential election, but he would never be sworn in. One of our classmates did not take kindly to our assertions and engaged us in an irate debate about the merits of the Party of National Unity lineup, the iniquity of the Tinga candidacy, and the total repudiation of the Barack Obama victory. She was so livid one time, it literally brought tears to her eyes.

In our estimation, Paul and I, we were spot on in our predictions. Barack Obama did indeed become the most powerful Luo man in the world and Raila Odinga probably won the 2007 election, though even the Kriegler Commission couldn't prove this to be true. What was surprising at that time, at least to Paul and I, was the over-emotional reaction to what was a joke. It never occurred to those we annoyed that Barack Obama might claim Luo ancestry, but he is most definitely a US citizen first and his Luo ancestry is no more than a curious artifact of his remarkable life story. He probably didn't see himself as the first Luo president or the most powerful Luo in the world. But you wouldn't know this from the passion demonstrated by those who would challenge the substance of the joke.

The same can be seen today in the way many react to jokes about Kenya or Kenyan political leaders. There is a tendency to ignore the basis for the joke or observation, and to question the motives behind them. Passions are being stirred and it is just a matter of time before things get out of hand. If Paul and I had the chance to do it all over, I bet we would do the same thing again. It was just too delightful to watch serious lawyers lose their shit simply by saying shit everyone knew to be in jest but just as true.