During a press conference on Wednesday 16 August, Presidential candidate of Kenya, Raila Odinga made a statement that would take Kenyans on social media by storm. The presidential candidate was addressing the press on the way forward of the NASA coalition after the just concluded election.
At the end of his statement, Mr Raila Odinga switched to swahili, probably in an effort to communicate to everyone even those who do not understand English. He said, “…Hawa viongozi ni vifaranga vya kuku, vifaranga vya kompyuta, kompyuta ndio iliwataga, kompyuta iliangulia, kompyuta ikawatoa… vifaranga vya kompyuta.” (Translated to: These leaders are chicks, chicks of computers, computers laid them as eggs, computers lay on the eggs, computers hatched them… chicks of computers)
The former Prime Minister was probably trying to explain his allegations that the recent poll results were hacked, considering that he had earlier referred to the incumbent president who happened to win the said elections as “Computer generated leaders”. However, the context did not matter to Kenyans on social media, the gem was “vifaranga vya kompyuta” and the memes started coming in:
Well Well Well pic.twitter.com/HyTLJfrfGu
— Droid (@droid254) August 16, 2017
#RailaSpeaks #VifarangaVyaKompyuta ndio hawa ama hahahaaa 😂😂😂 i can't pic.twitter.com/IxsPZkFeJk
— ★ KAYBRAND (@kaybrandafrica) August 16, 2017
https://twitter.com/hobuya/status/897826935396593664
Kenyans be like ….. #VifarangaVyaKompyuta pic.twitter.com/wzFv6Wv1F2
— Mac Otani 🇰🇪 (@MacOtani) August 16, 2017
Rare photo of Pres. Uhuru #VifarangaVyaKompyuta pic.twitter.com/3G2mNKyGwN
— 𝓲 Jack of All Trades 🇦🇷 (@iJackGa) August 16, 2017
#RailaOnResults H.E Raila is really a summary expert. He has summarised the whole election with this image. #VifarangaVyaKompyuta pic.twitter.com/PCGcRrmh0x
— Jay (@Onyxjohnte) August 16, 2017
The so called #VifarangaVyaKompyuta #RailaOnResults pic.twitter.com/2bybF8TQPx
— Innocent Muendo (@InnocentMuendo) August 16, 2017
Chilling with my nigas #JKLive
Supreme Court #VifarangaVyaKompyuta pic.twitter.com/njtg6DDBuz— Ombithough (@Ombithough2) August 16, 2017
The Supreme court begins the hard part of explaining how votes were eaten by chicken #VifarangaVyaKompyuta #RailaOnResults pic.twitter.com/3aHAbxe8XW
— G. Kamau (@Stegasteel) August 16, 2017
Even some media houses were not left behind:
'Vifaranga Vya Kompyuta'
When you have no idea on what's going on … @StandardKenya #ElectionKE2017 https://t.co/YoP5TDosBZ pic.twitter.com/8caERt6DLt— The Standard Digital (@StandardKenya) August 16, 2017
Some took it as an opportunity to advertise their business:
#VifarangaVyaKompyuta so we did this.hahaha #FreeLaptopDiagnosis @Laptop_Spects #PentaWhiteFriday #AskImmigrationKE pic.twitter.com/UfHoVYkhai
— Troxy IT Services (@Troxyitservices) August 17, 2017
The truth is, Raila Odinga was not referring to actual chicks but rather he was using the statement as an analogy of how he believes the current elected leaders are as a result of computer generated numbers. But Kenyans do not let a good meme moment pass by now, do they?
