archive
Yesterday a mysterious fire broke out at a primary school in Kawangware. Despite several frantic calls to the fire department and their assurance that they were on the way, they did not arrive until well over an hour when the fire had already done a lot of damage. The mob that had gathered around went berserk and started throwing stones at the fire engine and pelting the firemen with everything they could lay their hands on.
Most of readers pointed out quite correctly the inhuman manner in which an adulterous woman and her lover were paraded stark naked in the streets in broad daylight after being caught red handed in the act. (see photographs for yourself. Be warned they are quite explicit).
At the same time, we know that various private armies and terror groups have taken over parts of the country and have caused several deaths. Kenyans have forgotten about Mount Elgon but terror still reigns there. And closer to the city, there is fear and dread of Mungiki.
Then we have a leading daily newspaper, which on suspecting that their former crime editor was involved in some undesirable campaign against them, took the law into their own hands and had him arrested by police. They chose this path rather than file charges against him in court (if they had the evidence). It was mainly due to the hue and cry and protests by many of you readers in this blog that the matter was abandoned. But now it seems that Muiruri may be in trouble again after writing a letter to all MPs urging them to pass the media bill after saying one or two things about the troubles he has had with his former employers and some police bosses.
All this incidences are related (be patient and I will explain in a minute) and have something to do with mounting lawlessness in the country as we head to the general elections. There is genuine fear that if this is what we are seeing now, then we will need divine intervention to have a country still intact after the polls.
I talked to a police officer today and our conversation went something like this;
Policeman: If there was a place where I would go and return after the elections, I could have quickly gone there.
Kumekucha: Why? What shall we ordinary folks expected to do if you policemen, our protectors, are scared?
Policeman: We policemen are mere mortals like you and we can also be killed. What I will do on elections day (if we get there) is to vote very early in the morning and then I'll lock myself in the house the whole day.
Lawlessness starts from the top and has now trickled down to the common man. This is how it happens.
i) Highest authority in the land ignores court order and goes ahead to grab KICC from its; rightful owners. Available records clearly show that contrary to popular belief, Kanu the political party are the rightful owners of the building, which was built with funds organized for by the late Tom Mboya. This is just one example. On many other occasions the government has ignored court orders and gone ahead and done as they have pleased.
ii) Right on cue a cabinet minister becomes a law unto herself and harasses members of the press for making comments about a curious incident where she was carjacked while with a popular Catholic church priest at an ungodly hour of the night. The same cabinet minister pushes for the prosecution (obviously using her influence) of an alternative press editor who dared to publish a story in similar vein.
iii) A prosperous businessman who is owed some cash by another struggling small business bribes policemen at Kamukunji police station to arrest the person and lock them up without trial well beyond the stipulated 48 hours until their relatives can scramble around doing quick fundraisers to raise the debt which now also includes the hefty bribe given to the OCS. It is not good to owe people money that you can't pay, but this is a civil case and there are procedures to be followed before somebody can be committed to civil jail. They are ignored as the businessman is a law unto himself just as leading daily newspaper was a law unto itself sending policemen to arrest its' former employee, searching his office without a search warrant and with absolutely no evidence—only suspicions and bile potent enough to kill several hundred chickens.
iv) The same prosperous businessman has failed to pay his workers, especially the ones who worked on the unpaid job. But even after getting his money (the guy was a guest of the state at the police cells for about a week before the cash could be raised), he refused to pay his workers one of whom walks every day from Kawangware to the business premises in the Kilimani area to check whether his payment is ready. Ironically what the amount the poor Kenyan is chasing is triple what this businessman spends at a well known up-market watering hole (also in the Kilimani area) on a good Friday night. The worker tries to go to the labor office and several visits later is even forced to bribe the labor officer. The labor guys visit the businessman once and the matter ends there. They keep on giving false promises. It is not clear whether they were bribed or just intimidated by the businessman.
vi) The common man at the bottom of this vicious food chain takes every opportunity to be a law unto themselves because that is the example leaders are leading with. Nobody respects the law so how do we expect the common man to respect it? Why are we surprised when there is so much lawlessness in the country? Why do we even raise an eyebrow when wananchi stone firemen answering an emergency call?
Meanwhile every day we see monotonous, carefully packaged stories in the media that are designed to convince us that the police are winning the war against crime. Always the news clips are the same of gangsters gunned down by police, always with the same looking guns recovered. Right on cue the police commissioner tells us the same thing;
"We have identified the other culprits, we know who they are. My officers are pursuing them. It is only a matter of time…"
That's Kenya for you and a police force that is winning the war against crime amid rising lawlessness and insecurity.
Methinks that this is just window dressing to be used in election campaigns later this year to prove that the government has a handle on the situation. The truth, I assure you, you cannot handle.
The truth is that the battle and the war were lost a long time ago. And it all started at the top.
Why Is Hon Michuki bullying his youthful challenger?
The photographs Kumekucha feared to publish.
Horror of Kenyan with female sex organ sharing cell with men at Kamiti Prison
Are you a Kenyan? Do You love your country? Join in this noble campaign to change things. Do something instead of just complaining.
