Never underestimate the power of an insult. Sometimes the people you intend to demean take the insult, wear it as a badge of honour, and turn it against you.
Three stories — two from Kenya and one from India — illustrate this rather well: the cockroach, the peremende and the hyena.
THE COCKROACH — INDIA
India’s Education Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, resigned on 25 July 2026 after weeks of protests over alleged examination irregularities, particularly the leakage of the NEET-UG examination used for admission to medical and other health-professional courses.
But one of the fascinating aspects of the protests is their name: the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP).
The story appears to have begun in May 2026 following remarks by a Supreme Court judge that were widely interpreted online as comparing unemployed or protesting young people to “cockroaches”. The Court subsequently clarified that the remarks had been taken out of context.
But by then, the cockroach had escaped.
Instead of running away from the derogatory label, young Indians appropriated it.
A satirical idea emerged online: if they were cockroaches, then perhaps they needed a Cockroach Janta Party.
The satire rapidly developed into a youth movement. When the NEET-UG examination controversy erupted, the CJP made it one of its major causes, demanding accountability and the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
What began partly as internet satire became demonstrations, sit-ins and other forms of protest.
And eventually, the Minister resigned.
The cockroach had bitten back.
THE SWEET (PEREMENDE) — KENYA
We have seen something remarkably similar before in Kenya.
In 2012, Kenyan doctors were engaged in industrial action over their terms and conditions of service. During the dispute, then Medical Services Minister Prof Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o was reported to have characterised the doctors as sulking children crying for peremende — sweets.
It was intended as a dismissive description. The doctors did something clever.They took the insult and owned it.
And so was born the #PeremendeMovement.
Doctors went online explaining exactly which “sweets” they wanted: adequate staffing, equipment, medicines, better working conditions and implementation of agreements reached with government. Social media became an important part of the industrial action.
Instead of weakening the doctors, the peremende label gave their campaign an identity.
The strike eventually ended with a return-to-work agreement under which the government agreed to honour commitments previously made to doctors.
The sweet had become bitter for those who had coined the description.
THE HYENA (HITI) — KENYA, 2026
Fast-forward to July 2026.
Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has found himself at the centre of controversy following remarks made partly in Somali during a public event in Lafey, Mandera.
At the heart of the dispute is a Somali proverb involving the waraabe — the hyena.
Duale has argued that he was using a traditional Somali proverb about the difficulty of abandoning an entrenched habit. His critics, however, interpreted his wider remarks as referring derogatorily to the Kikuyu community.
The reaction has been swift.
The National Cohesion and Integration Commission has opened investigations into complaints concerning the remarks. Political leaders have demanded an apology.
But something else is happening.
Some Kikuyus on social media have begun appropriating the hyena.
Instead of rejecting the label, they are making jokes about it, producing memes and videos and turning the animal into a symbol of resilience, organisation and collective strength.
The intended insult — or perceived insult — is acquiring a completely different meaning in the hands of those to whom it was allegedly directed.
It sounds strangely familiar.
– Cockroach.
– Peremende.
– Hyena.
Different countries. Different circumstances. Different generations.
But there is a common lesson. BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU CALL PEOPLE
History is full of examples of derogatory labels being appropriated by the very people they were intended to diminish.
Once that happens, the person who coined the insult loses control of its meaning.
An insult can give a previously scattered group a common identity.
– A joke can become a hashtag.
– A hashtag can become a movement.
– A movement can become political organisation.
– And political organisation can have consequences.
In India, what started as the satirical Cockroach Janta Party became part of a protest movement powerful enough to place enormous pressure on the government and culminate in the resignation of an Education Minister.
In Kenya in 2012, doctors transformed peremende from a dismissive description into the identity of a highly visible campaign during their industrial action.
And now, in 2026, we are watching the word fisi acquire a new political meaning almost in real time.
Whether the current fisi phenomenon disappears as another social-media joke or develops into something politically significant remains to be seen.
But politicians would do well to remember one thing:
– Never give an aggrieved population a name around which it can organise.
– You may intend it as an insult.
– They may turn it into their identity.
– And sometimes, that identity becomes a movement.
Time will tell what becomes of the hyena.
Dr Simon Kigondu is a gynaecologist and an occasional commentator on Kenya’s political scene