Bold move! Njugush appears before Ruto after months of scathing criticism
Top Kenyan comedian Timothy Kimani, popularly known as Njugush, made a bold appearance before President William Ruto and Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua after months of using satire to criticise their leadership and policies.
He was among other creatives who were introduced to the audience at the National Drama and Film Festival held at State House Nairobi on 2 June.
Chipukeezy introduced the creatives, including Eddie Butita, Jaymo Ule Msee and Philip Karanja, and when it was Njugush’s turn to speak, he said, “Hello, good afternoon, you know, Your Excellency, let me just speak the truth today. We’ve come to this place so many times for drama festivals, but this is the first time there’s a stage – a down stage and an up stage.”
“I remember coming here when the late former President Mwai Kibaki was still in power. We came to perform for him and we performed to the point of throwing ourselves on the grass. This was because we were in front of the President… only to be told after the performance that the President had stepped out for a few minutes,” Njugush began.
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He continued, “Mr President and Deputy President, we are very happy when we see that you are conscious of the arts. And for those of us who do the arts, let’s keep it up. Thank you,” Njugush said after being introduced as Kenya’s top comedian.
His unexpected appearance before President Ruto and his deputy comes weeks after he criticised the government over the high cost of living in Kenya, including high bills for food, electricity tokens, education (although the government claims it is free) and medical care.
Njugush also used humorous satire to shade them for increasing the cost of fuel to historic highs in Kenya and for proposing more taxes on goods and services such as housing levy, forcing Kenyans to dig deeper into their pockets despite high unemployment rates and runaway high cost of living.
He also criticised President Ruto’s party for claiming to empower economically challenged Kenyans but instead nominating old and career politicians to plum government jobs, going as far as creating new positions for them at the expense of taxpayers battling historic inflation.
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