Of jilted lovers and humble pie

I do not know why they call it eating humble pie but some politicians, whether they have eaten pies before or not, metaphorically had to eat their humble pies this week.  Yet again, these men witnessed the downside of technology when words they spewed months or years ago came back to haunt them as they replayed on our televisions for the rest of the world to see, side by side with their new appointments.

It is evident that the man in the big office is shrewd and knows what he is doing especially when he chose his worst critics to head the very dockets they had strong opinions on. They tell us from a young age to never burn bridges because we may need to walk back but these politicians are very good at rebuilding burnt bridges.

Without flinching, they took to their social media pages to thank the president for their appointments. We can now safely conclude that when the fox said the grapes were bitter, it was simply because he could not reach them. We can also almost conclude that our leaders have no integrity. They criticise only because they find themselves on the other side of the divide and will not turn down any invite to join the feast. While this lot may have been contented with their new appointments, we have a few others who may have been crying ndani ya choo.

Just like with the matters of the heart, a new love sometimes means a recent heartbreak. Some alliances have been broken and a few waheshimiwas are feeling jilted.

Even though the reshuffle had been triggered by the recent demonstrations, nothing much has changed. The big man proved to us that he is very good at recycling when he picked for us new leaders from his old mitumba bag of ex-politicians. The Bible speaks against pouring new wine in old skin and warns tailors about using old fabric to patch new ones but the big man, who is a bible fan has not adhered to these teachings.

We have learnt yet again that one has to have thick skin, good arteries, and strong heartstrings before venturing into politics, in this arena, one gets fired without a warning only to be reinstated again- or maybe not. Your enemy becomes your colleague and your friend your foe in the blink of an eye.

Years back, when Kenyans voted for the new constitution, banana and orange were used to represent those who opposed the new constitution and those who agreed with it respectively.

The watermelon represented those who appeared to sit on the fence or betray their parties. These past weeks a new crop of watermelons has emerged from the oranges. As Kenyans, we should agree that our politicians are purely driven by self-interest and not what Wanjiku wants.

Our fervent activists become corrupt in less than a month in office and do no better than their predecessors in the offices that they hold. Like the animals in George Orwell’s book, we look from man to pig and from pig to man and can no longer tell the difference.