Writing’s on the wall for greedy MPs

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Photo/STEPHEN MUDIARI A man looks at the graffiti on the City Market wall in Nairobi. The wall was said to have been painted at night with political messages. A sizeable crowd on March 4, 2012 came to see and read the messages. 

By PETER OBUYA potieno@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Sunday, March 4  2012 at  22:30

In the heart of Nairobi is a rare graffiti with a political message to the electorate: be wise and choose only leaders with the interest of the nation ahead of their own.

The City Market wall facing Muindi Mbingu Street displays the reminiscences of a greedy politician seated at Parliament Buildings, a man who hoodwinked Kenyans into electing him to the lavish position he uses to impoverish the same electorate.

“I’m a tribal leader; they loot, rape, burn and kill in my defence while I steal their taxes and grab land, but the idiots will still vote for me,” says the politician depicted in the graffiti as a vulture.

Also lampooned in the graffiti is the August House which has been displayed as the place where citizens have consistently been plundered since 1963.

Tax evasion

While not very exhaustive, the graffiti shows a rebellious spirit, enriched with a good deal of verbal wit as the artists seek to remind Kenyans of land grabbing, political assassinations, tribal clashes, Goldenberg and Anglo-leasing and other high-profile crimes committed by politicians, including tax evasion.

And their message is clear to the public. “We want visionary and patriotic leaders who are solution oriented and in touch with the feelings of the people. A leader must be dedicated to serve, competent and not corrupt.”

Many city residents continue to visit the place to get a feel of the artistry that has become the new element of conducting civic education as the General Election nears.

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It is a new form of revolution that has entered Nairobi with a considerable bang; and while graffiti is not considered as one of the enlightened ways of revolting against the authorities, it is nonetheless an effective way of communicating to any target group.

Graffiti often has a reputation as part of a subculture that rebels against authority, although the considerations of the practitioners often diverge and can relate to a wide range of attitudes.

In Nairobi though, it is expressing a political practice and can form just one tool in an array of resistance techniques.

Many people found at the place when the Nation conducted a spot check welcomed the graffiti, saying the artist should bedeck all parts of Nairobi with the message and let it flourish in other towns as well.

Mr Duncan Ndirangu, a businessman at the market, confirmed that many people had thronged the place to admire the graffiti and virtually all are pleased with the message.

“Many people have trooped here in the last few days to have a look at the paintings. I got the feeling that they liked the messages. This is a good teaching, because politicians have taken us for fools to be swayed around,” he said.

Mrs Laura Waudo confirmed that as she nodded in amazement while reading through the injustices the government has committed to its own people key, among them, the Syokimau demolitions that left many homeless.

And while the artists remain unknown, the message is already home. Graffiti artists normally fear the looming threat of facing the law for displaying their aesthetics, and thus choose to protect their identities and reputation by remaining anonymous.

Political players must now go back to the drawing board and devise ways of countering this relatively new development to redeem their tainted images before the general public.

Chronic poverty and unemployment as well as the epic struggles and conditions of a country’s marginalised people are touted as the main engines that fuel graffiti culture.

Graffiti has been used throughout the world as a means of galvanising a nation. In China, graffiti began with Mao Zedong in the 1920s, and used revolutionary slogans and paintings in public places to propel the country’s communist revolution.

He holds the record for the longest piece of graffiti, which contains 4,000 characters criticising his teachers and the state of Chinese society.

In Hong Kong, Tsang Tsou Choi was known as the King of Kowloon for his calligraphy graffiti over many years, in which he claimed ownership of the area. Some of his work is now officially preserved.