A Kenyan lawmaker known for linguistic improvisation was briefly detained by authorities this week for allegedly composing a song that mocks President Mwai Kibaki and his wife, police said on Thursday.
MP Reuben Ndolo was arrested and questioned on Wednesday in Kenya’s Eastern Province after publicly suggesting in a song that Kibaki is lazy and First Lady Lucy Kibaki is the real power in the country, police said.
“He has recorded a statement with police and been freed,” said Gideon Kibunja, spokesperson for the criminal investigations department.
In an impromptu performance at a weekend party, a smiling Ndolo was recorded by television cameras singing a tune in Swahili with the lyrics “President Kibaki is unable to work, wooi, wooi, wooi, Mama Lucy should continue working.”
Kenyan law bars “abuse” of public figures and ordinary citizens.
Ndolo, who represents Nairobi’s Makadara constituency, told local media, which repeatedly aired the footage, that he did not compose the song but had merely joined members of the public in singing an already popular ditty.
In 2003, the same lawmaker used a turn of phrase in Swahili to suggest that residents of his slum-filled district use burning tyres to prevent power workers from removing shacks that were built under electricity lines.
When questioned about the comments, Ndolo said he had actually told people to put tyres on abandoned wrecks to move them in order for power-company vehicles to pass. — AFP