Christina Shusho, renowned across East Africa for her gospel music, has recently stirred conversation in Kenya with a teaser of her upcoming song titled “Zakayo.”
In Swahili, Shusho sings, “There was a man named Zakayo, the chief of tax collectors and a wealthy man. He sought to see what kind of person Jesus was…”
Given Shusho’s substantial following in Kenya, some individuals amusingly speculated that the song might allude to Kenya’s President William Ruto.
In a playful twist, certain Kenyans likened President Ruto to the biblical figure Zacchaeus, often mockingly referred to as Zakayo in Swahili. Zacchaeus is depicted in the Bible as a tax collector of questionable character who climbed a tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus.
President Ruto has acquired the moniker Zakayo due to his administration’s implementation of new taxes and increases to existing ones since his election in August 2022. This has led to dissatisfaction among many Kenyans who feel he has strayed from his initial campaign promise to advocate for the financial struggles of the common citizen, known colloquially as “hustlers.”
