As the #WakoraNetwork was delivering the full judgement of the Presidential Election Petition 2017, at the Supreme Court of Kenya, some genius pulled a stunt that no one expected.
He appeared from nowhere with a swarm of bees and in a split second, both NASA and Jubilee supporters, who were about to clash, went scampering for safety. And not just the supporters; even the well trained anti riot police had to run away.
Of course my friend Babu Owino claimed credit for bringing the bees but I can assure you, it was never his job. He just sought publicity using the incidence like he has always done.
But that aside, that incident reminded me of many years ago.
Using bees to manage a crisis is nothing new. It has been used for ages.
Long time ago, when I was a small boy, my now ageing grandfather used to employ the same tactic to scare hell out of everyone especially when there was a mega crisis in our extended family’s meeting and no one was ready to listen to him.
Whenever a family meeting turned chaotic, the old man, an expert in bee keeping who has owned at least five beehives as long as I can remember, would simply rise, walk away and head to the shamba without saying a word to anyone.
Definitely, everyone would be left surprised since we never knew what he was up to.
A few minutes later, the man would reappear with that traditional beehive, full of bees, on his shoulder.
How he convinced those bees not to sting him, I don’t know. But either way, he skillfully did it.
He would then declare that it’s either everyone agreed with his decision or he would drop the beehive.
At this point, even the loudest member would go silent and walk away.
And just like that, he had won the argument.
Of course, one of my daring aunties once dared him to drop the hive thinking that it was a big joke. What followed was worse than what was witnessed outside the Supreme Court.
So yes, bees have been used to manage crowds for ages
***********
Special salute fellow scribe Victor Muyakane, a reporter at KBC. He is the man in the featured photo who rescued the disabled guy during the bees onslaught. Bro, you are a true embodiment of the journalism spirit.