The price of truth in a nation of comfortable lies

Truth has never been a friend of the world. The world does not embrace truth-tellers; it crucifies them. From the time of Jesus Christ, who declared, “If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first,” truth has carried with it a heavy cross.

To tell the truth is to invite hostility from those who profit from deception. In Kenya today, this ancient truth still holds.

We live in a political culture where lying has become an art and deceit a career path. The man who tells the truth, plain, uncomfortable, and unpolished is often branded arrogant, divisive, or disloyal.

He becomes a target not because he is wrong but because he threatens the illusion that keeps the corrupt comfortable. That is precisely what has befallen the former Deputy President, a man whose greatest “crime” is his refusal to varnish the truth.

In a political arena where sycophancy is rewarded and silence is mistaken for wisdom, truth has no safe home. Those who dare to speak it find themselves isolated, misrepresented, or systematically dismantled.

It is no coincidence that former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s tribulations began the moment he chose to call things by their real names, to name hypocrisy where it thrives, to question injustice in high places, and to confront the political double standards that define our governance.

But history, both biblical and national, tells us that such men are not enemies of peace. They are the conscience of nations. Jesus Christ, though divine, was hated not for miracles but for truth. He called sin by its name. He declared light where others preferred darkness. And like Him, every person who speaks truth to power must expect rejection, for the world does not hate false prophets. It hates those who expose them.

In Kenya, truth-telling has always carried a price. From JM Kariuki to Charles Rubia, from Kenneth Matiba to Jacob Juma, those who have confronted deceit have often paid dearly.

Ours is a country where truth is punished and hypocrisy promoted. And yet, as a people, we can not afford to keep silent in the face of injustice simply because truth makes others uncomfortable. Silence in the presence of lies is itself a lie.

The former Deputy President’s courage to speak his mind, whether one agrees with him or not, must be understood in that context. He is not suffering because he is wrong; he is suffering because Kenya still operates under a political order that can not coexist with honesty.

He has chosen the narrow path: To stand with truth even when it isolates him from the powerful, even when it invites ridicule from the very society he seeks to enlighten.

The irony is that the same society that praises Jesus for speaking truth to the Pharisees condemns its own truth-tellers for doing the same. We cheer biblical courage but fear its modern expression. We pray for righteous leaders but persecute them when they appear. We have become a people more comfortable with lies that soothe than truths that sting.

But truth, however suppressed, has a stubborn way of surviving. It does not die; it resurrects. Those who mock it today will eventually be judged by it. Kenya’s salvation will not come from the loudest populists or the most generous patrons. It will come from men and women who love the country enough to risk hatred for its sake.

The former Deputy President’s struggles should remind us that the battle for Kenya’s soul is ultimately a moral one. It is a contest between truth and pretense, between conviction and convenience. In that struggle, neutrality is complicity.

As Christ said, “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin.” Once truth has been spoken, every listener becomes responsible.

So let those who stand for truth not be discouraged by persecution. In a nation built on political deceit, truth is an act of rebellion and rebellion, in the service of justice, is the highest form of patriotism.

Kenya may hate its truth-tellers today, but tomorrow, it will call them reformers. If you love your country, do not be cagey with the truth. Tell it boldly, live it faithfully, and let it set your people free.