"If such utterances came from someone else I could have sued him/her over defamation but since it’s Sonko I know him and I know why he said it. I do not take him seriously," Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu said on Citizen TV's JKL show, Wednesday.
Waititu who was defending himself against an array of wild accusations made by his Nairobi counterpart Mike Sonko on the same show last Wednesday, had at the beginning of the interview made an impression that he was going to deconstruct Sonko by even describing him as a 'joker' who should respect his current position.
"It is very disappointing to see such words coming from someone who is entrusted with the lives of over four million people. It is high time that he (Sonko) becomes serious. He is a leader now, he should not be a joker. This is not the time for that," Waititu said.
Waititu added that he is a "serious person and respectable parent", the reason he has come this far.
Waititu was responding to one of Sonko's most disparaging remarks that the Kiambu governor is a bhang smoker.
"I have never consumed any type of drug. People know that I’m strongly opposed to the use of drugs and the consumption of illicit brew," he said.
To this point, Waititu seemed to be hitting Sonko below the belt and winning against him. However, after this seemingly well-rehearsed response to Sonko's unsubstantiated 'madness', the house of cards that the governor had 'built' for himself ahead of the interview, came down crumbling right on his head. But why?
1. Self-contradiction
If you watched the interview keenly, you could tell that the governor was contradicting himself more than he could defend his points.
He could, for instance, say a point in the affirmative this minute and in the next one put it the other way. This even made his host, Jeff Koinange, wonder whether he was lying before sarcastically telling him, "but bwana governor you always have the right answers to all the questions".
Sonko, on the other hand, expressed confidence in all his answers which he even supported with documents. Fake or otherwise, Sonko definitely carried the day here.
2. Inadequate briefing
While Sonko seemed well briefed on almost all the county matters that were put across him, Waititu appeared the opposite. He kept on murmuring and stammering and when he came clear on matters that he had no clue about, he said: "I have not heard about that but I follow up".
3. Unnecessary defence
Waititu spent much of his time defending the indefensible where he could simply have admitted failure.
For instance, when he was asked why patients at Kiambu Level Four Hospital were sharing beds, he was quick to say that it was because the hospital was well equipped leading many patients in and outside Kiambu to seek medical care at the facility. Really?
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