Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga on Monday found himself the subject of social media mockery, after a tribute post to fallen basketball star, Kobe Bryant, backfired embarrassingly.
Taking to Twitter, the county head had wished the sportsman, who died Sunday alongside his daughter in a plane crash, a peaceful rest, citing one of Kobe’s most popular motivational quotes.
”If you are afraid to fail then you are probably going to fail, ” the governor wrote.
However, Kahiga misspelled Kobe’s nickname, Mamba, instead, refering to him as Mwamba.
The ignorant post captured the attention of hawk-eyed Kenyans on Twitter, who were quick to point out the error, prompting the governor to slyly make the necessary correction.
It was, however, too late for the Nyeri leader to save face, as screenshots of the original post had already flooded the Internet.
#RIPKobeBryant#RIPMamba pic.twitter.com/KcVOH2r9AZ
— Mutahi Kahiga (@GovernorKahiga) January 27, 2020
Kobe coined the alias Mamba (short for Black Mamba) as a means to deal with difficulties that he experienced between 2003 and 2004.
He was, at the time, facing charges of sexual assault, which negatively impacted his NBA career.
According to the star who died aged 41, ‘Kobe’ was the name he would associate with his tainted image, while ‘Mamba’ was the celebrated basketballer who America loved to death.
Seven other people also died in the Sunday night crash in California.