Government Spokesperson Isaac Mwaura’s strong condemnation of a cruel social media trend mocking Raila Junior has been met with overwhelming and passionate support from the Kenyan public.
In a show of unity, citizens from across the political divide have rallied behind his call for decency, with many now demanding that the creators of the offensive content face legal consequences under the country’s Cyber Crime Law for their actions.
Isaac Mwaura had branded the TikTok trend “horrendous,” after a number of users began posting videos where they deliberately distorted their faces to imitate Raila Junior’s facial paralysis.
The videos, which showed them lip-syncing to the emotional eulogies he gave at his father’s funeral, were created just days after the burial, a fact that has amplified the public’s sense of disgust.
Kenyans on social media have been unequivocal in their outrage, flooding comment sections with messages of support for the Odinga family and disgust for the content creators.
Many felt the creators had stooped to an unacceptable low.
One user’s comment captured the cultural sentiment perfectly: “There are four things you should not make fun of: illness, disability, poverty, and death. Those people should grow up.”
The public backlash has now escalated into a firm demand for accountability and justice.
A significant number of online commentators are insisting that this is a clear case of cyberbullying and that the Cyber Crime Act of 2018 must be applied to punish those involved.
“Cyber crime law should apply on those individuals,” one user demanded, while another served a stark reminder: “They are forgetting that the Cyber Crime Law 2018 has been signed.”
Many Kenyans echoed Mwaura’s point that such behaviour is inexcusable, especially in the name of chasing online fame.
As one user wisely warned, “Life has a funny way of humbling mockers. What you laugh at today, you might cry about tomorrow,” capturing the widespread feeling that the creators had displayed a shocking and punishable lack of basic human empathy.
By Nairobi