It’s witching hour in Los Angeles and she’s tucked next to her white man. Bold on the white because she’d want it clear. Her snores get louder and louder with each passing second. Unworried. After all, why be worried? The coterie of enemies she’s made can’t reach here. If they dared, they’d meet the barrel of the US military.
Of course, she’s familiar with Jamal Khashoggi—the Saudi dissident butchered in Istanbul and the US cowardly response—but measured by Western scales of geopolitical importance, her country only has the Serengeti and the unimportant Tanzanite to offer. A few bombs meant for the children of Gaza can be diverted to Dodoma. She is safe.
It is almost noon in Dar es Salaam, and Mrs Fulani is boiling with non-climate change heat. Apparently, she’s added to her carbon footprint. At least that’s what the heading said. She’s mad, mainly not because she’s guilty as accused, but because someone in her inner circle snitched for $50.
And because rumours are fed to the discontent, the rest of the nation opens their mouths like eaglets. Nothing like the specter of somebody rich and famous being miserable as us. We await a Los Angeles sun, as it comes with more context from Mange Kimambi on what Mrs. Fulani did. And if God is kinder, we get to see them go back and forth on Instagram.
For only Tsh1000 and a VPN, Mange Kimambi offers a low-budget TMZ-like website. All that gets the nation to climax is there. There’s a section on politics. A section on healthy eating. A section where she body-shames those with artificial fillers. A section on celebrity revenge porn.
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A section where she gives voice to all people, including minorities. Do not mistake her for a progressive though; she’s an opportunist. Then there’s the occasional punching on to power she does. And finally, a section on you name it.
What captivates most people apart from the hyperbolic narrative way or the jokes with which the gossip is told is the professional way she runs her empire. Stories on her website are bought and substantiated with evidence from people close to the accused. Usually, most turn out to be true unlike the lies for clout the nation was used to.
Of late Mange has drawn fire from the government for her vulgarity. It’s nothing new though, that reputation she’s had since leaving the ruling party. However, what makes this time different is we were on a positive free speech trajectory, one that saw even once-closed newspapers reinstated.
A path that the U.S. government has endorsed. Censuring her only serves to stain that path, taking us whence we come from. Critics of her usually claim her vulgarity is the issue and that her Westernized mind seeks to divide the nation. They make compelling arguments, yes, but those are not in service of free speech but the status quo.
Free speech incorporates more than what most African governments care to admit. Consequently, this is a product of the dictatorship aura we introduced at birth. As children, we live as our parents will. What we eat and wear, who we are friends with, who to avoid, where we school, and what to consume are dictated to us.
At no particular point are we to question or answer back. We are programmed to be compliant even when we are wronged and deserve more. Ultimately, that shapes us into saying only the kind of things our parents wish to hear which then reflects into an obedient population as citizens.
When we are that however, we say only the things the government allows us to say. Our minds are spoken for, boxed not to express all the myriad of human feelings, but only those that don’t demand accountability from power. And that is exactly what anyone with power wants.
Human emotions can be expressed in a million ways. One could be soft-spoken when communicating, another could be introverted, another be charmed, and another be violent about the same thing.
All of these people should be accommodated within the spectrum of acceptability as we cannot account for each individual’s history, upbringing, culture, or many other circumstances. Vulgarity also, though not professionally mainstream in most of the world, is in this acceptable spectrum as far as free speech is concerned.
Just as one would sob for receiving a gift and another only shake your hand for the same gift, one could critique you softly or sarcastically or abuse you. People feel and perceive things differently and thus will express themselves differently. People have different levels of expressing the same feelings.
And people should be entitled to the magnitude of all their emotions. They should cry. They should smile. They should vent. They should keep silent if they wish to. Our role as a society in this should be to respect other people’s expression and be empathic and respectable when we deliver ours.
But provided we are or they show none of the two, then nothing should be out of place because the freedom of expression allows it. Kimambi has been doing exactly that for the most part.
This entire argument of course exists in restraints. There’s a thin thread between free speech and hate speech. Some speech seeks to provoke unlawful actions, to harass or to defame. Some are obscenities, true threats, or fighting words.
This range of expression is not protected but rather prosecuted. We do this because even if you are entitled to your freedom of speech, we are entitled not to listen to you, to not be defamed, and to security. The last thing we want is bigotry filling our streets simply because it can be spilt.
Kimambi may have ventured once or twice into hate speech or defamation, and for that, she should be brought before a court of law. She’s however, pronounced guilty only if she violates speech permitted by the Constitution and not what the government or society calls acceptable. The court of public opinion and the government may disagree with her tone or language but are to respect her constitutionally given right.
It’s worth remembering also, that most African governments and people call any opinion they don’t like hate speech. Customarily, speech flows from elders and leaders downward. Those without power and age only give suggestions that are either taken or discarded, which is how abuse of free speech is born.
With governments, the abuse is great because they have the tools to silence dissent. They do it to protect the peace and further unity. But those are just dog whistles for any speech that jeopardizes their hold on power.
In reality, free speech does not seek to disturb the peace but rather allows us to exist in all our thoughts. What divides is hate speech. And even if it brought in a new idea that would most likely divide people, that would not happen if all parts of the state held their oath to the constitution.
If the police, parliament, judiciary, military, and executive work as instructed by the Constitution, no amount of vile words can tear the nation apart. Case study: Kenya, where the military upheld the law of the land rather than Ruto’s orders. Were the army to do as Ruto instructed, few would still be protesting now. The army knew that the people were entitled to freedom of speech and protest as per the constitution, not as per Ruto’s wishes.
