Friends are usually surprised by my distaste for political banter. True, I have been an MP and a governor, but I prefer ideas that can transform society, to political gossip.
This frustrates a group of young leaders with whom I interact. My insistence that good politics must have standards, and that the end does not always justify the means, seems lofty to them. My conviction that politics must go beyond name-calling, solve problems and improve living standards seems unattainable.
They quote Machiavelli, who argued that a politician cannot be judged with the same morality as a commoner. I’m a leader not a politician, I protest, as they point to a growing trend.
Using outlandish and controversial topics, Kenyan politicians push the public and media to debate the shock factor, rather than focusing on key issues such as unemployment and the cost of living.
This tactic is called the dead cat strategy.
Popularised by former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Australian political strategist Lynton Crosby, the dead cat strategy is a political communications manoeuvre that introduces a sensational, controversial topic to divert public attention away from a more critical or damaging issue.
If you are losing an argument, or the facts are against you, throw a dead cat onto the dining table mate, Crosby famously advised Johnson. Everyone will immediately recoil, and start talking about the cat, instantly making them forget about the previous, uncomfortable conversation.
The point is distraction. The injected topic must be outrageous or highly emotional, to guarantee immediate media coverage and public outrage. The goal is to flood the news cycle with the new, controllable controversy so that the original issue-such as a policy failure or ethical lapse-slips by, unnoticed.
Coming into prominent view in the early 2010s, the concept is not new. Sample this: From the 19th century practice of using smelly smoked fish to throw hunting hounds off a scent trail, the ‘red herring’ became the definitive literary and political term for introducing an irrelevant topic, to divert attention from the real issue. The trick and word, are now in common usage.
‘Wag the Dog’, made popular by a 1997 movie of the same title, is a political term for creating a diversion such as an international military crisis, or foreign policy spectacle, to shift domestic media attention away from a severe political scandal at home. This is common in US and European politics.
Politicians know that public attention span is limited, and thus have, since Roman emperors, provided everything from free food to entertainment, to distract the populace from vexing political issues. They manufacture consent, Noam Chomsky argued in 1989, by staging unmissable spectacles that quietly push unfavorable policies off-stage.
Kenya’s politics is similar. It is structured around ethnic mobilisation rather than ideological or policy differences. Instead of competing on economic, healthcare, or education platforms, politicians build tribal coalitions to win elections. Ethnicity is a dead cat.
In a game of chameleon politics, parties change names and alliances every election cycle, based on tribal math, not shared ideology or policy goals. As voters, we prioritise representation over pressing issues, supporting co-ethnics out of fear of exclusion from government programs. This ‘our turn to eat’ thinking is common political speak.
There are, however, signs of a transition to issue-based politics. Kenya’s urbanised, tech-savvy youth are moving away from traditional ethnic patterns, using social media to organise around governance issues.
The 2024 youth-led revolt, and shifting economic pressures, demonstrate a growing public demand for accountability over tribal loyalty. Voters are beginning to unite around economic issues rather than tribal identity.
As late president Mwai Kibaki says in a viral clip, economic hardships like stagnant real incomes, unemployment, and high cost of living, have no tribal dimension.
Further, county-level debates are forcing gubernatorial and county legislative politicians to address specific local issues including jobs, healthcare, agriculture, and water access. Citizens are making comparisons.
While ‘dog bites man’ is a poor headline, the media should aide the transition by shifting coverage from sensational political elite melodramas, to rigorous, data-driven debates analysing the feasibility of candidate promises.
And buyer beware. As the 2027 elections beckon, dead cats are everywhere. Goonism and calls for a tourism and investment boycott are but two examples!