Holy Kamket! The self-declared prince of peace who preaches war

Whatever it is they smoke in some corners of Mulembe seems to have drifted into the deep ravines of the North Rift—into Tiaty, to be precise.

And it appears to be giving the area’s Member of Parliament, William Kamket strange ideas. In case you missed it, Kamket recently made a vain attempt at becoming the latest Jesus.

“The Honourable William Kamket, member for Tiaty, is a prince of peace,” he declared in Bunge on Tuesday. Clearly, Kamket thinks highly of himself—so highly, in fact, that he imagines himself not only as “honourable” but as Christ himself.

There may, however, be an explanation for the confusion surrounding his identity. A local daily once referred to the MP as a “warlord.” Bwana Kamket must believe the “war” in warlord is silent.

Had someone else been occupying the Speaker’s chair that day, Kamket would have, perhaps, gotten away with his claim to the seat at the right hand of the Father.

The lawmaker, or lawbreaker, depending on whether you think his mouth can make any laws, was unlucky that the National Assembly’s Speaker, Moses Wetang’ula, was present-- and not amused.

“Do you know what a prince of peace means?” Wetang’ula asked, visibly concerned that Kamket’s remarks bordered on blasphemy.

“Yes, you are looking at one”, Kamket shot back.

Wetang’ula, who fancies himself Papa wa Roma, was having none of it.

“You are not,” he curtly responded

Needless to say, Weta may have been gatekeeping for the Mulembe nation, which already boasts its own Jesus—Yesu wa Tongaren. Recently, a mungu wa mataifa emerged, succeeding the late Jehovah Wanyonyi. Around the same time, a woman in Matayos proclaimed herself the Virgin Mary.

Eventually, Kamket relented, rebranding himself as a “peace-loving Kenyan”—another generous self-assessment. If his tongue is a window to his soul, then peace is likely the last thing on his mind.

Were the phrase “I don’t want peace, I want problems” to take human form, it would resemble Kamket: the loose-tongued, two-term MP from bandit-ridden Tiaty.

Armed bandits

Kamket is best known for his alleged association with armed bandits and has previously been arrested for incitement. Once a fierce critic of President William Ruto, he defected from the Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya coalition party, formerly an opposition outfit, into Kenya Kwanza as soon as Ruto ascended to the presidency.

His defection was widely interpreted as a strategic bid for protection from further arrest—an approach that seems, at least for now, to have paid off.

Yet many Kenyans feel it is time he revisits the notorious police cell menu, particularly the undercooked ugali, following recent threats to unleash his militia on Gen Z protesters ahead of last Wednesday’s demonstrations.

“If you think the rungu-wielding goons who stormed Nairobi are trouble, come back next week and you’ll know who the Pokot youth are… How many are ready to defend the government? Should we go to Nairobi?” Kamket asked during a rally in Sigor.

He even borrowed a phrase from Deputy President Kithure Kindiki: “Waone noma?”

Kamket did not specify what sort of “noma” the protesters would encounter. But given the context, it is fair to assume he was alluding to bandits known for their AK-47s and poisoned arrows.

“Wale vijana wanatoka sehemu hii watawaonyesha maana ya kukimbia ni nini. Hiyo matumbo yao imejaa mafuta tutawakimbiza mpaka mafuta yao iishe kwa mwili (Youth from this region will show you what running means. You will run until the fat melts off your potbellies,” he would add.

At that moment, someone should have offered a mirror, and Kamket would have seen who the pot-bellied fellow is.

True to Kamket’s word, there was running—only that it was he and his colleagues fleeing Bunge, afraid that Gen Z might storm Parliament as they did last year. Never mind that they had all the protection they needed and more, thanks to the razor wire and heavy security ring-fencing the precincts.

Kamket has avoided the public since the protests, and we can’t tell whether he has lost a few inches around his waistline. What is certain, however, is that he must have gained a fresh dose of fury after his plan to unleash chaos had flopped.

Before he was elected into Bunge, Kamket served as the Speaker of Baringo’s County Assembly. He holds qualifications in mass media, though it appears he missed the lectures on how to watch one’s tongue.