A Kenyan man, Karl Mbugua has amused Kenyans online with his skit in which he mimics Larry Madowo’s nose for bad news. In the skit, Karl stands in a puddle of water in gumboots. He adds, as an overstatement, that where he stands there once was a mall and five mansions but they no longer exist because of the floods.
He goes on to say that our airports are no longer airports, that they’re just ports. This alludes to Larry Madowo’s X posts about the deplorable state of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
“Good afternoon, my name is Larry Madoadoa. Believe me or not, right here where I’m standing there used to be a mall and five mansions, but they no longer exist because of the continuous floods in Kenya, there water is rising day by day over there. There used to be Kenya’s parliament, but now it’s not there because of the continuous rains in Kenya,
“We are suffering as a nation. We don’t have roads. It’s not like we have good roads anyway, but situations around here are tremendous. The airports are no longer airports. They’re just ports. We really need your help. However, the government is planning to evacuate everyone to Tanzania until Kenya becomes livable again.” Mbugua says impersonating the CNN reporter.
Larry Madowo took to his Facebook and Twitter to complain about JKIA. Six days ago, he wrote: “I’ve been complaining about how bad JKIA is for 10+ years. But I don’t agree that it’s the “stupidest” airport in Africa. Not even close”(A post on Facebook that has 7k likes).
In another post made on Facebook on May 1, Larry notified his followers of a blackout at JKIA. A post that got 2.3k likes.
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Larry has since seemingly defended himself with a quote from George Orwell: “Journalism is printing what someone else does not want to be printed. Everything else is public relations.”
Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has also accused Larry Madowo of painting his country in dull colours after moving abroad. He added that it is no secret that JKIA has no shade for passengers, it is a fact. This he said as he promised that the conditions at JKIA would be improved.
Kenyans have continued to speculate about what it is that is the reason why Madowo according to them, consistently talks about our shortcomings. One Peter Maya wrote, “Seems Larry Madowo is well paid by these Wazungu to paint our JKIA(Kenya Airways) to look bad in the world, bro hizo CNN tickets zitaisha tu. If our airport doesn’t offer excellent services, then use water as means of transport when you come to Nairobi. How can you hate your motherland?”
A few other Kenyans sided with him, and I quote “As a Kenyan Journalist I can say he is just doing his job. We can’t be this emotional to the truth.”, this by Steven Otieno.
Whether Larry is just doing his job or he goes out of his way to get bad news about his country is subjective. That notwithstanding, his reputation as a skilled journalist remains untainted.
