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JJ Kamotho was the model stooge. A sidekick of his master, he insulated him from the realities on the ground with false praise. Kamotho also played the attack dog role quite brilliantly and would help suppress potential threats to the big boss.

He earned enemies. Of course. He also earned proteges, as Kenya has now come to learn.



In the sunset years of President Daniel arap Moi's tenure in office, a young man would emerge to imitate his role model, Kamotho. The nation would know him as KJ, which, sadly, is not short for Kamotho Junior, but Kiarie John. He wasn't nearly half as plump as the President's master of ceremonies but made up for his physical shortcomings with a voice that matched his role model's.

KJ, the son of a one-time MP, Waweru Ng'ethe and perennial presidential candidate, also sported a hat like Kamotho's and took his place by the master's side. Many at the time believed that, fed up with the government of the day, KJ and his Redykyulass compadres employed humour to mock State functionaries. But as they have recently revealed, the Redykyulass crew were mostly infatuated with the characters they parodied.

Hence, we can explain why KJ sounds more and more like Kamotho of the 90s, to whom reality was whatever he told his boss. KJ played many characters. He caricatured Njenga Karume and his heavy tongue, and cross-dressed way before it became fashionable.

But none of the other characters stuck. Indeed, KJ is not the illiterate man he portrayed Karume to be. He can.

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