Kenyan bodyguards have earned a fierce reputation with the common mwananchi considering how they treat them when they encounter them while doing their jobs. They are normally gruff, bad-tempered and generally to be avoided if you don’t have the title “Mheshimiwa” in your credentials. But it seems when it comes to the people they are supposed to be protecting they become like poodles.
These past year has seen two incidents that readily come to mind. The first one happened three months ago, after a photo of Cabinet Secretary, Sicily Kariuki’s bodyguard carrying her handbag broke the internet. The photo literally divided Kenyans on the role of a bodyguard.
The second incident happened when Homa Bay Women Representative Gladys Wanga raised eyebrows when a man who appeared to be her bodyguard was photographed tying her shoe laces. The photo was taken over the weekend at the University of Nairobi, Chiromo Campus.
Whatever your take on the matter, there are some things that must be pointed out. A bodyguards primary mandate is to protect the client. His hands should always be free to move in a protective gesture either in mitigation of a dangerous situation or to retrieve a weapon that they carry on their person.
My belief is that this Kenyan bodyguards are going beyond the call 0f duty. Their job is to protect, period. Anything else should be done by another assistant. This attitude is endemic of the way politicians treat our taxes. They steal it because they believe it is rightfully theirs. It is a “better than thou” attitude or “my fart smells like roses” attitude. This attitude assumes that they are better than their subordinates and hence mistreat them with duties that shouldn’t be in their purview.
