Kenya : There was a fine mess at the burial of famed journalist Ogara Taifa in Nyakach Kadiang’a when journalists tussled over food meant for mourners. Paying tribute to the saying that after every fellowship, there must ‘swallow-ship’, decorum took a back seat as the impatient hungry members of fourth estate turned the solemn occasion into an unrestrained tumult. With every scribe scrambling for a bite, the scene proved quite a spectacle for the other mourners who found it hilarious. They couldn’t help laughing.
According to onlookers, the whole crowd of mourners was left astounded as journalist behaved like hyenas. A shocked eyewitness told this writer that he could not believe journalists were that greedy.
“We thought journalists could behave better but they have shown us that they are just Kenyans…and the way they were bashing MPs for being greedy! Kweli nyani haoni kundule (a baboon doesn’t see it’s backside),” he posed. Most notable in the wild and chaotic scramble were presenters from a local radio station that has a wide following in Luo Nyanza.
In fact, one of their famed female presenters took the biscuit when she justified her spirited fight by claiming that ‘man must live and that we live to eat and not the other way round’ before introducing a large bolus of food in her pretty mouth.
The said presenter is said to have filled her plate like a lazy civil servant’s in-tray and kept on munching noisily with relish as she boasted about how she had outdone the competition in the melee.
It remains to be seen whether the respected and celebrated glorious voice will still charm the audiences after she disgraced herself during the pandemonium.
An old lady who was present chuckled, “To kara jo habari gi be ema lich ka ochopo saa ng’wenyo (so it means these journalists are as shocking and as entertaining as this when it comes to matters food, too)?”
Another mourner wondered why journalists who are thought to be stars in the society, would resort to such habits as if they do not have enough to survive on.
“It is clear from this experience,” noted the woman, “that these people are struggling like the erst of us yet we thought journalists have lots of money, and have manners.”
Other villagers could even be heard joking that they would wish to have journalists attend more funerals so that they can get entertained more.
स्टैंडर्ड मीडिया में JECKONIA OTIENO की रिपोर्ट.
