Recently, information was published at a Kenyan blog that Beryl Otumba, a Kenyan lady resident in Stockholm, was appointed by “ODM and PNU” to work for the Kenyan government. Following the “News”, Beryl began to get congratulatory messages from friends and well wishers, much to the surprise of Beryl.
This is because the “appointment” was a hoax and although it was not April fool’s day, the blogger never bothered to put the record straight. KSB control room was itself jammed with inquiries from curious Kenyans about the “welcome news”. Since the insinuation was that ODM was behind the appointment, members of ODM-Scandinavia were equally looking for “further information” from the Party about this interesting piece of news.
Obviously, an appointment of a Kenyan in Diaspora to work at some position in Kenya should be welcome News and a plus for the Coalition government that is yet to convince Kenyans with bases abroad that they can get jobs in our country currently suffering from over 50% unemployment.
However, if someone decides to post such news at a Blog site using the name of a well known Kenyan national when it is not April fool’s day, then questions have to be asked about the intention. There are several jokes that circulate in Kenyan blogs but our view at KSB is that these kind of jokes should be avoided by bloggers because they tend to promote confusion.
When I met Beryl and a handful of Kenyans at a function over the week-end, the attitude towards the story was the same – that it is a joke that may have gone a bit far.
Some people aka Watu wengine in Stockholm and Kenya had even began lobbying Beryl to fix them a job once she takes up her new position. This was because the image that was created by the blogger is that Beryl had landed a “top job” and in Kenya, people in top positions are known to pull strings so why not Beryl? It was a brief moment of irresponsibility and thoughtlessness in the Kenya blogsphere and that’s what I am saying.
Okoth Osewe
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