Abstract

All over the world today many people are complaining of increasing displays of bad manners and incivility in society. It seems that good manners and civility are fast disappearing from social interaction not just in interpersonal relationships but in public affairs as well. Whether it is in the United States, the Philippines, or in Kenya, political leaders today are more likely to feature in the news not for the positive life-changing things they intend to do for their people but more likely for their invective against perceived foes. This paper argues that the bad manners and incivility that are being witnessed from Kenya's leadership today are a necessary precondition for the acts of impunity that are occurring with greater frequency. These acts of bad manners, incivility and impunity are best expressed in the Sheng word: utado?! This word not only describes an attitude but also defines a whole culture in the conduct of public affairs in Kenya. These sundry acts of bad manners and incivility far from being accidental are deliberate and are a precursor for the increasing acts of impunity. These acts of impunity demonstrate the dearth of civility whose ultimate outcome may be to turn away from a new-found democracy to authoritarian governance of the past.

Highlights

  • Utado?! As an Expression of Bad Manners, Incivility and ImpunityUtado?! is a word of the patois, Sheng

  • What I want to do in this brief paper is to look at how the attitude of bad manners, incivility and impunity expressed in the word utado?! has increasingly defined Kenya’s public spaces in the recent past to an extent that it describes a culture

  • If allowed to continue unchecked, the syndrome of bad manners, incivility and impunity that have been witnessed in Kenya lately leads to a mockery of the cooperation that is the basis of society and may very well pave the way for the imposition of autocratic rule

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Summary

Introduction

Utado?! is a word of the patois, Sheng. Sheng is mainly a mixture of Kiswahili and English (Swahili + English) as well as smatterings of other Kenyan languages that evolved in Nairobi’s inner city from the 1950s [1]. It is a culture that is perpetrated and perpetuated by the various publics that are enticed through corruption and tribalism to fight, often unconsciously, in favour of bad manners, incivility and impunity in the false belief that it is only for the collective good of their tribe and for “peace” in the country [4]. It all begins from a basic lack of good manners

From Good Manners to Civility
Civility and Democracy
How Incivility has Bred Impunity in Kenya
The Impunity Template
How Kenya May Change from a Democracy to an Autocracy
Findings
Conclusions
Full Text
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