A story is told of a traveler who on returning from a foreign country, boasted of the many and heroic deeds he had performed while there.
Among those deeds he boasted about, was a leap he had made at the city of Rhodes. That leap, he said, was so great, that no other man could leap anywhere near the distance and that he could call upon many in Rhodes who could stand as a witness.
“There is no need of witnesses,” interrupted a bystander, “simply assume this is Rhodes and leap for us.”
The moral of the story is that "boasting of deeds done is lots of fun at least until someone calls you on your boasting."
No one else would perhaps relate better with this story other than President Uhuru Kenyatta who once asserted that he “roars like a lion” in his Mt Kenya backyard and would determine the political direction the region takes come 2022.
He would even add that he won't “leave the country to a thief”, a clear indication of how confident he was in his ability to influence his 2022 succession.
All this bragging has, however, come under sharp scrutiny after he lost three by-elections in a single day, including in his home county.
Uhuru's ruling Jubilee Party was shown dust in the Juja parliamentary contest, a constituency in his own Kiambu county, as well as the Rurii ward by-election in neighbouring Nyandarua County.
Both by-elections were won by new political outfits associated with Deputy President William Ruto, a man the President and his handlers have branded "a thief" and declared him persona non grata in Mt Kenya.
But not anymore! The bragging traveler has finally been called out on his boasting but would not even make the simplest leap at his Kiambu backyard.
Some of his staunch supporters have even started to acknowledge the reality.
"From the onset, it was clear that the PEP candidate was winning and the Jubilee candidate was losing. Now the results are out and we must accept defeat. Congratulations to Hon George Koimburi and Hon Moses Kuria and the team for their spirited campaign and well-deserved win," Kiambu Woman Rep Gathoni Wamuchomba is quoted by the Star as saying.
THE POINT
In all cases, where a challenge is to be expected, we had better be contented to keep our exploits to ourselves, than to appear ridiculous by contending to have them believed.
Every time you brag, you are liable not only to be suspected by the people around you in general, but to be detected and exposed, as Juja and Rurii voters did to Uhuru, the bragging traveler.
