Turning to the track by music artist Exray Taniua, real name Tony Njuguna, the Head of State took fault with the moral and ethical significance of some words portrayed by the song
President William Ruto on Friday, November 22 took a swipe at the popular hit song Sipangwingwi, questioning the role of such songs in raising a responsible society.
Ruto, who spoke at the graduation ceremony of the National Defence Univerity in Lanet, Nakuru County, had called on graduates to work jointly with other graduates across the country to examine the place of society in the upbringing of children.
He urged the graduates to similarly identify the place of parents and religion in raising a morally upright generation.
Turning to the track by music artist Exray Taniua, real name Tony Njuguna, the Head of State took fault with the moral and ethical significance of some words portrayed by the song such as “Maisha ni yangu, shughulika na yako,” loosely translated as “My life is up to me, concentrate on yours.”
President Ruto questions the moral significance of the lyrics of popular hit song ‘Sipangwingwi’#ViralVideos pic.twitter.com/inIJVX9eio
— Viral Tea Ke (@ViralTeaKe) November 22, 2024
“You now hear of incidences of Maisha ni yangu, shughulika an yako, where does that leave family, society, community, religion, tradition and culture?” Ruto questioned.
“What is the place of the region in bringing up a morally upright, patriotic citizenry, so that we can better understand the breakdown that leads to young people committing femicide,” he added.
According to Ruto, such terms as used in the song, greatly hamper efforts to foster unity and peaceful coexistence among family members and the community.
However, Ruto’s latest comments on the song are contradictory to the heavy usage of the song to propel his campaigns ahead of the 2022 general elections.
During the electioneering period, Ruto adopted the song as his campaign slogan, basing it around his Bottom-Up Agenda. The song featured prominent Gengetone artists including X-Ray and Trio Mio.
When the song was banned by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) on the grounds that it used hateful language that promoted violence, Ruto turned on the commission for trying to police Kenyans on their language.
“I think it is an exercise in futility to try and tell us which Swahili or English words we should use. We are decent, intelligent and knowledgeable people. We know what we are saying.
“To our competitors, please try and cobble together a plan and an agenda to sell to the people of Kenya. Stop wasting your time trying to re-engineer our literature. The people of Kenya know how to speak and they will speak at the ballot. Let us not involve institutions of government in a circus that will not help anyone,” Ruto said in April 2022.
Around the same time that NCIC had flagged the phrase, Ruto released a music video of the song alongside E-Xray as a direct rebuttal to the commission.
Exray features Deputy President William Ruto in ‘Hatupangwingwi’, a remix of his hit song ‘Sipangwingwi’
What do you think? Hit or miss? pic.twitter.com/ikUU4abTyb
— Viral Tea Ke (@ViralTeaKe) April 8, 2022
In September 2023, the president mourned the Sipangwingwi producer, Byron Muhando Kivisi, terming him as talented. He further recalled their interaction at his Karen residence and lauded his works of art.
“Deeply saddened by the death of music producer and artist Byron Muhando Kivisi. Byron was first introduced to me by music sensation Xray during a music recording session of the hit song Sipangwingwi at the Deputy President’s residence in Karen.
“I recall with fondness his calm and collected demeanour, but more importantly his immense talent that made him an acclaimed music producer. It is disheartening that we have lost Byron at a prime age. We are comforted by the fact that his works of art will live on,” wrote the President at the time.