Popular Rift Valley songbird Emmy Kosgei has refuted claims that she disparaged her Kalenjin tribesmen.
The gospel musician married to Nigerian pastor Apostle Anselm Madubuko was reacting to media reports alleging that she said Kalenjin men are cowards and never approached her for marriage.
“I have interacted with several men from my community but they feared to hit the nail on the head to suggest marriage,” she was quoted as saying.
The artist has faced public ridicule especially from aggrieved Kalenjin men who have described her as disrespectful and ‘an outcast’ for her “reckless utterance”.
Kosgei said the coverage her alleged remarks have attracted on both the mainstream and social media is cyberbullying.
“Personally having been born in a Christian family and being a daughter of a pastor, I cannot and I will never utter such words meant to offend or demean anybody leave alone my family or my local community,” Kosgei said.
She is the daughter of Kalenjin elder and the Worldwide Gospel Church of Kenya Bishop Jackson Kosgei.
She said for the over 16 years she has been in the limelight, she has been bullied online at least six times "which is normal to me anyway".
“But I have forgiven everyone who did that,” she said adding that the original video with powerful content is still up on her Facebook page.
The musician spoke from her Lagos home office during a live online interview with Baringo News Facebook blog on Saturday night.
She said she was quoted out of context.
“I just did a two-hour video recording with my kids in the house intending to reach out to my fans on social media when a selfish and ill-motivated person just picked a statement and started blowing out of proportion in the media to sell their products. He even told me they would post it and apologise later,” she said.
The singer further termed the authors of the articles as comedians and propagating lies for their selfish gains calling on the members of the public and her fans to disregard the information.
She said the individuals just picked a statement and magnified it.
“When I mentioned the word ‘introvert’ in my speech, I didn’t mean anything selfish. In fact, the word according to the dictionary refers to people who speak less but are so powerful in the society,” Kogei said.
She said there is no way she could have said men from her community are ‘useless’ adding that she respects and adores them, “I when I say they are introverts then it means they respectful and so powerful."
Among Kosgey's popular song titles are Taunet Nelel, Ategisin Jehovah, Alakara and Chebomuren. She credits her father – a renowned Kalenjin orator - for helping her write them.
Edited by R.Wamochie
