Alfred Keter joins growing list of those caught on wrong side of technology

Kenya: Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter must have wished the ground would just open up and swallow him when the video of himself threatening government officials at a weighbridge in Gilgil went viral.

 Anyone who has been caught on camera or whose utterances have been captured on an open microphone knows how it feels for everyone to see or hear what was not meant for their ears.

This can be very tricky especially for public figures like Keter, who may say something that stirs up controversy or even put their jobs on the line.

Keter is, however, not the only person who knows how hot the flame of being caught unawares on camera is.

A number of police officers in the country and especially those in charge of traffic have been caught on camera taking bribes from motorists.

For them, trying to talk their way out of the sticky situations is impossible especially with such hard evidence. They can only hope that the law will not be too hard on them.

Just recently, Pastor Victor Kanyari rocked the country with a scandal after an exposé revealed he was using false testimonies and fake miracles to rake in millions of shillings from desperate faithful.

Thank God for technology because were it was not for it, the faithful would have continued to believe and buy into the self proclaimed prophet’s charm. Kanyari was filmed by a hidden camera coaching his staff on what to say for his congregation to buy into fake miracles.

He was recorded confessing that he had been in the game for years and had mastered it. A small part of him must have died a little when he saw the exposé that uncovered his soft underbelly.

Presidents and world leaders are not exempt from having technology betray them with US President Barack Obama having been overheard speaking to Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s current Prime Minister who was then the president.

“Let me get re-elected first, then I’ll have a better chance of making something happen. On all these issues, but particularly missile defence, this can be solved, but it’s important for him to give me space,” Obama was heard saying, according to the Washington Post.

They had been discussing issues of European missile defence.

Recently, former US President Bill Clinton also found himself on the wrong side of technology after a young lady posted a selfie where Clinton was seen to be staring at her bosom.

 According to the Elite Daily, Clinton may not have realised he was on camera when the lady took a selfie, which she posted on Reddit.

The photograph has since gone viral with many people saying that a leopard does not change its spots given Clinton’s affair – that almost cost him his job and marriage – with then White House intern Monica Lewinsky when he was President.

Apart from revealing our dirty little secrets when it is the last thing we want, people have lost their jobs for saying things at the wrong time when a microphone was on or a camera was rolling.

That is exactly what happened to Dean Jones, the former Australia Test cricket batsman turned TV commentator. Dean was fired from Ten Sports after he was overheard calling Hashim “Silent Warrior” Amla, South African cricketer a ‘terrorist’ during a match in 2006. According to cricket website cricinfo.com, Dean said: “the terrorist has got another wicket” when Amla, who spots a long beard, took the catch to dismiss Kumar Sangakkara during the game.

Amla is a devout Muslim whose jersey does not even have the sponsor’s logo since the Proteas – South Africa’s national cricket team – is sponsored by Castle, a lager of South African breweries.

Though people who have been heard saying unsavory things on open mic or on camera and probably jeopardised their careers may feel like technology is out to get them and probably wished we lived in the era of no phones or the internet, for two parents in Uganda, living in the technological age saved their young daughter’s life.

This is the story of the Ugandan house help whose video of her mistreatment and beating a young girl to the extent of stepping on her back and kicking her in the face went viral.

I can bet that house help had no idea that there was a nanny cam in the living room. Were it not for that nanny cam, they would have never found out what happened to their daughter every time they left home and maybe the outcome would have been tragic. So is technology out to get us or did it come to make our lives better?

This question has no right or wrong answer.

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