When Mumias East MP Peter Salasya engaged in a fistfight in November 2024, his Democratic Action Party leader Eugene Wamalwa rightly observed that the youthful legislator needed mentoring, something that Wamalwa undertook to do.

In a video recording that featured as a news item on national TV stations across Kenya, the Mumias East MP was seen directing Peter Walunya Indimuli, a member of the Kakamega County Assembly to get out of his sight and sit down. But the MCA stayed put, hoping that the master of ceremony would give him the microphone to also address the mourners. This did not go down well with Salasya, who lunged into the miserable Indimuli with kicks and blows, a situation that deteriorated into pandemonium as mourners ran helter-skelter.

Five months since this altercation, there are no signs that Salasya is slowing down soon, or that the mentorship ever happened. Matters seem to be getting out of hand. The MP has been involved in near-similar altercations and theatrics.

One month ago, another viral video emerged, this time involving former Cabinet minister Rashid Echesa and Salasya as the main protagonists. Echesa can be seen addressing a small gathering on the side of a road. After sometime, Salasya emerges with a handful of handlers, and can be seen pacing up and down, protesting and making frantic efforts to disrupt the meeting. He seems disadvantaged that his vehicle does not have a sunroof, so he attempts to jump onto Echesa’s car to wrestle away the microphone. Sensing that he is outnumbered, Salasya becomes almost the sole protester at a meeting convened by his opponent.

More recently, Salasya was in the news again, this time ejected out of Nyayo stadium by football fans during a FIFA World Cup qualifiers competition pitting Kenya’s Harambee Stars against Gabon’s national team.

But it’s the public statements Salasya has made since the unwarranted attack on him that leave one wondering whether the MP has close friends. A day after the attack, he said: “I have identified my attackers face by face in Kibera where they stay; some of their houses don’t even have doors. The good news is that beating up Peter Salasya is not an achievement but a curse. You can’t beat an anointed person and go scot-free.”

But the most unfortunate, coming from a promising leader, was his derogatory statement about his perceived attackers: “kutahiri ni kitu muhimu (it helps to be circumcised), it removes stupidity in someone’s brains”, a discriminatory reference that has been weaponised over the years against the Luo community during presidential election campaigns, with devastating effect on election outcomes.

In February, Salasya was forced to apologise after being accused by his parliamentary colleagues of live-streaming parliamentary proceedings on his TikTok account, in total contravention of the Standing Orders of the House.

But Salasya is not the only budding leader in dire need of help from social media-driven publicity that comes with positions of privilege like his in society. Not too long ago, nominated Senator Gloria Orwoba was forced to eat humble pie after making disparaging allegations against the clerk and other officials of the Senate, allegations that saw her suspended indefinitely after she altered the wording of a prepared apology as had been directed by the chamber. The stand-off almost negated the good work the senator has done, campaigning for girls to be treated with dignity, including during menstrual periods.

Among youthful leaders who emerged after the 2024 Gen Z protests, there are already signs that the publicity that came with their role is getting into their heads.

From the foregoing, it behooves all of us – close friends, those they trust, or view to be in a position of authority – to step forward as mentors and advisors so that the society does not lose budding leaders to hubris.

The writer is the Executive Director of the Kenya National Civil Society Centre, and Chairperson of the Horn of Africa Civil Society Forum; suba_churchill@yahoo.com