Among those who joined the mass choir hitting out at the impeached deputy president, reborn as a potent opposition leader, was Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen. The CS in charge of insecurity has been in the crosshairs over police inability to tackle the violent goons who constantly disrupt opposition gatherings.
But now, it is apparent that Mr Murkomen has been converted to Mr Gachagua’s school of thought. His very clever solution to the menace is well-meaning advice for convenors of political rallies to keep clear of areas where they know goons are lying in wait.
That is a common-sense, practical approach that should be adopted by all who care for their safety and know how foolish it is to deliver themselves into the arms of gangsters.
With the government having adopted Mr Gachagua’s travel advisory, it is now incumbent on all Kenyans to follow suit. Over this past weekend, for instance, there was a resurgence of perennial communal violence along the Kisii-Narok border. There really is no point for residents to continue waiting in vain for police to come to their rescue, when a much easier option would be to voluntarily move out.
The same solution can be offered for large swathes of the country where assorted terrorists, cattle rustlers, bandits and ethnic militia have for decades held sway, defying collective efforts of the National Police Service and Kenya Defence Forces to enforce security.
The logical thing would be for the entire populations of insecure northern Rift Valley counties—West Pokot, Baringo, Turkana, Samburu, and even Mr Murkomen’s Elgeyo-Marakwet—to permanently relocate.
Mass human migration can also be encouraged out of parts of the northern and north-eastern region where terrorists and ethnic militias have caused a permanent state of insecurity. Continued residency in Garissa, Wajir, Mandera, Marsabit, Isiolo, Lamu and Tana River counties makes no sense when resettlement elsewhere is an option.
Those prudent security solutions would clear nearly half of the county’s total land mass of human population, freeing vast tracts for the development projects envisioned under President Ruto’s Vision 2060 dream. Just imagine the vast irrigation projects, large-scale commercial farms, smart cities, digital hubs, manufacturing plants, world-class hospitals, quality schools, ultra-modern stadia, power stations and affordable housing units that would come up!
The Murkomen doctrine, of course, would not be limited to inhospitable, remote and marginalised areas. He spoke soon after leaders in Homa Bay County unleashed armed goons on an opposition Linda Mwananchi rally, forcing the convenors to deploy their own goons in self-defence instead of being scared away.
According to the police minister, Homa Bay is government goon territory that will not allow opposition incursions. One must presume that the goon curtain extends across the rest of ODM territory in Nyanza as well as other regions, such as President Ruto’s Rift Valley, that claim allegiance to the governing coalition.
The logic then must extend to areas deemed as opposition strongholds, where local goons must be allowed to rule and keep out pro-government invaders. This would include Mr Gachagua’s Mt Kenya bastion, Linda Mwananchi leader Edwin Sifuna’s Western Kenya and Nairobi strongholds, Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka’s Lower Eastern Kenya base, and former Interior CS Fred Matiang’i’s Kisii conclave in Nyanza.
Brilliant security innovation
Political zoning by “goonocracy” might well be incorporated as a key plank of the Vision 2060 agenda, and Kenya’s inspired contribution to the evolution of “democrazy” and governance.
It might even be desirable to bring this brilliant security innovation to the macro level. We have in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru and all our major cities and adjacent peri-urban areas, security hotspots where criminals of various stripes—muggers, bag-snatchers, burglars, “mchele babes”, carjackers, sex pests, etc—make life difficult for law-abiding citizens.
The police often find themselves outmanned and overwhelmed, especially when all too often diverted to non-core duties such as playing nursemaid to CSs and other VIPs, Vagabonds-in-Power, or escorting pro-government goons.
The solution is simple: Everyone should move out to more secure areas. In the capital city of Nairobi and environs, for instance, there really is no reason why some should insist on staying in Mathare, Dandora, Githurai and some of those vast crime-infested slums. They can easily pack up and move to enjoy the peace and quiet of Muthaiga, Karen, Kitisuru, Gigiri and other serene, leafy suburbs.
Mr Gaitho, an independent journalist, is former NMG Managing Editor for Special Projects. [email protected]
