A week to go

We have nine days to the General Election, a much-awaited event in Kenya. The main contenders, Raila Odinga and Kibaki, are out, wives in tow. To a journalist, the events are electrifying. Every single day, there is a never-to-be-missed story out there waiting to be discovered.

The other day, it was the president's wife slapping an emcee. Although she helped journalists to discover the incident - by walking briskly to the hapless man and slapping him in the face - the reporters failed to capture the event. Or rather, they did but the presidential security ensured they had nothing to show for it. Their cameras were briefly confiscated and the footage erased.

I'm told digital cameras store such things even if someone erases it. Hopefully, some computer geek will help us put Lucy Kibaki on the world map for the umpteenth time, slapping a face here or damaging a camera there. If there are women who will define Kibaki's re-election or lack thereof, they will be Lucy and her nemesis, Wambui. It was Wambui (her alleged secret co-wife) whose name sparked the outrage in Lucy as the emcee introduced the First lady thus: Your Excellency, President Mwai Kibaki, First Lady Lucy Wambui..."

Needlesss to say, he did not complete that sentence. A slap did the rest.

I will not forget how a friend of mine in Riyadh laughed his head off when I related the story to him. He believes our Fast Lady is in the wrong profession.

I'm watching the ANC election in South Africa, so if you will excuse me....