Uhuru Kenyatta: President of the Meme Republic

By Citizen Reporter Published on: December 26, 2018 11:55 (EAT)

Uhuru Kenyatta: President of the Meme Republic

Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta is a pretty powerful man; not only is he the most powerful man in Kenya, but he is also pretty powerful online.

Yes, he has a massive social media following, but that is not exactly why he is powerful on those platforms. Many do not even know his name or title; to them he goes by “The guy in the memes.”

Take @NomfusiLengs, a South African Twitter user who discovered that the man whose photo she sees being used to express a hilarious point online is an actual President and you get the meme republic point.

https://twitter.com/NomfusiLengs/status/1069237099981869056

That tweet went viral and since the internet is never defeated, the comments that followed her tweet were, you guessed it, memes of President Kenyatta.

Mr. Kenyatta is a pretty expressive and largely happy man who likes to take selfies and mingle with Kenyans and that, in the year of our Lord 2018, is a perfect recipe for glorious meme material.

People using Mr. Kenyatta’s photos as memes is not derogatory nor does it mean they adore the man. It is just hard not to use a photo of him where he is smiling, wearing his glasses low, taking a pint of alcohol or trying to hold back laughter. It’s nothing personal, just internet.

There are countries where memes of leaders are frowned upon but luckily that is not the case in Kenya and pray that it remains that way since politicians need to learn how to take a joke.

Memes are an online culture where an image, short video or clip art are used as a reaction piece. A meme typically preys on funny facial expressions or human reactions we can all relate to; sad, disappointed, holding back laughter and many more.

Memes are nothing new, they have been with us for a while. It is just that they are fast going mainstream and even our parents are learning how to use them.

To a person with a camera near President Kenyatta, 8 out of 10 of his/her photos can yield a photo that will be received with open arms by the netizens.

Just recently, the internet was gifted memes of the President when he decided to take the train to Mombasa for his annual holiday.

To best explain how the President Kenyatta memes work, I will just have to send you to the timeline of one Twitter user @Kimanzi_ who decided to chronicle a typical holiday binge drinking spree that many young people can relate with. But instead of just text, he enlisted the help of the President through his photos and the end product was one of the best Twitter Threads ever.