Migori has been trending on twitter everyday since Monday. This was after the president visited the area to launch an anti-malaria campaign. I haven't watched the footage though, I just have been reading around.
So it is said that, immediately the Migori governor stood to address the crowd, youths who were strategically standing (placed) just in front of the dias started chanting ODM slogans. To which party does the governor belong? From what I gather, his election was challenged it is only after the court of appeal upheld his election did he continue serving, so he is not exactly what we would call a people's favourite.
So there was heckling, youths chanting ODM slogans and chairs were all over shoes were thrown into the dias where the head of state was seated. He however, I read stayed calm. His bodyguards however threw a cordon around his tent to protect him.
The president stood to calm the crowd, his efforts were however futile. He pleaded with the crowd to give each leader a minute to speak but it all fell on deaf ears.
The president finally stood to address the crowd. His address was however characterised by muted jeers and a section of the crowd kept on chanting ODM slogans. Was he heckled, was he booed?
This is however not the first time Uhuru Kenyatta is heckled by the public. In 2013 after his endorsement as president in Kasarani, he and his running mate William Ruto went to Kisii. That however didn't turn out well. The crowd kept on chanting and they were bitter toward the duo, I'm not sure they were eventually given the opportunity to speak that day in Kisii. Compared to this one of Migori, the heckling in Kisii had a cause, though it is still heckling, they complained about replacement of IDPs and Uhuru's performance at the treasury docket, they also kept shouting at Ruto for his performance at the Agriculture and Sports ministries.
I'll take you through some prominent people who were interrupted in their speeches and how it turned out for them, mind you heckling is not always that negative, something positive always comes out of it. I'm still trying to find something positive that came out from the Migori scene, you help me out at the comments section.
Australian prime minister Ben Chiefly was beginning his speech, then when he characteristically asked the audience to lend him their ears, a man was seen throwing a cabbage (rotten) on to the stage. The prime minister singled him out and told him "I said your ears Sir, not your head" That right there was the bomb. This got me thinking. It is said someone threw shoes at the dias, what should Uhuru have told this kind of person?
Did you know that the famous i have a dream speech by Martin Luther King jnr was not meant to be his main speech for that specific day, he was interrupted, or rather heckled.
It is said that Mahalia Jackson interrupted Martin's main speech by telling this to the hero while he read his speech, " tell them, tell them Martin tell them about the dream",
Martin stopped reading his prepared speech and improvised the rest of his new speech. That there came out positive.
Heckling is nothing new especially in the political scenes, we don't just catch feelings and start pointing fingers, no we don't do that. Prominent people have been heckled at and booed at in the past, this includes ;Bill Clinton during his rallies, Obama and his policies, George W. Bush,and the list endless. It is only right the president reaches out to all kenyans, and by the way, he handled it so cool, he was very calm and composed.
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