There are grief-stricken families in this country who woke up this morning agonizing whether they will ever see their missing loved ones again. Those families are like yours and mine.
Like you and me, they have one heart and two kidneys, emotional attachment to their loves ones, and feelings of grief whenever a dark cloud hangs over their rooftops.
Just like you and me if you cannot lighten their heavy hearts with messages of patient compassion and humane empathy, kindly refrain from making a mockery of their excruciating ordeal.
This week, top security organs finally came out to admit the existence of a worrying trend of extrajudicial killings that has claimed an upwards of ninety-seven women in the past three months – an average of one woman murdered per day, by people who claim to worship God but do things that would make Satan scared.
It goes without saying that, lately, every time a female loved one goes missing from the confines of the warmth of the home environment, the alarm bells start to ring at the centre of the family circle, pain and agony follows immediately after, and the damage it does to the mental wellbeing of those directly affected goes the scope of reparability.
This is not what we asked for when we went to the local chief’s camp to apply to be citizens of this country.
We should not live like this. Even those who went before us would turn inside their graves if they heard we have been defeated in creating a homely environment out of the freedom they died fighting for.
If our independence heroes were to be told that we’re being forced to return home before dusk like chicken for fear of meeting kidnappers in the dark, they would surely petition God to let them return so as to fight for the second liberation.
It matters little what appropriate definition those who study the breakdown of law and order want to give this latest phenomenon, one thing remains for certain; that the assurance of personal safety of every well-meaning Kenya has gone below the red line of comfort, and with it the peace and tranquility of the family unit, the wellbeing and security of the surrounding community, which has far reaching ramifications on the adherence to the general rule of law and observance of peaceful order.
The state – for it to derive apolitical legitimacy and function to near perfect status – will only be in control of its constitutional shelf life if it meets certain critical expectations; chief of which is to protect personal life and public property.
It is the cardinal rule of governance for which any government claims authority over those they lead. Anything less amounts to entertaining the discussion on whether we have ticked all the boxes to qualify us to be ranked among failed states.
It's not a farfetched allusion that when more than ninety-seven helpless women die in the hands of criminals walking freely with crude weapons, small arms and light ammunition; without the knowledge and out of the hawk eye of community police, a safe conclusion can be made; that Kenyans should start waking up each day with the full knowledge that they’re on their own.
No government, worth their stamp, would entertain the desire to be close to where the country is right now.
The mental state of helplessness is not the place those who run this country should ever envision Kenyans to find themselves in.
When you’re helpless, in body and mind, your spirit enters a dark room full of unimaginable thoughts; ranging from collapsing your walls of existence so as to exit into a painless world promised for those who fight the good fight, or kicking off a traumatic fightback that has the potential to draw in everyone suffering around your community and beyond.
There’s no knowing the extent to which this Samson option could weaken the foundations of the state. It is everyone’s wish – since we have no other place to call home – that the security agencies turn this around pretty quickly and restore our country back to the settings we envisioned when they got the mandate to fill the shoes of those they took over from.
On June 25, 2024, Kenya tasted what it means to have a mass movement joining hands to lash out at tone-deaf leadership, without fear of the consequences or favour of the political class.
It was a sight to behold watching young and old lending their support to those with the unflinching voice and steely courage chanting down oppression and bad governance. For the first time, in a long time, a new country was born and everyone felt proud to call this place home.
Four months later, we have refused to rise to the occasion and make it right to the critical mass who are still hurting from the manner in which their message was received – that day when the police responded with fire when all Kenyans asked for was a listening ear.
The voice of the people – which, we’re told, is the voice of God – might have been quietened by those whose political survival was threatened by the reawakening of the suffering class, but their grievances still remain alive and the embers have started responding to the warm wind yet again. If we cannot lessen the burden of those whose situation have become worse since June 25, let us not ignore their pain.
For a senior member of the security forces to make a public admission that they know nothing about, and are in no way associated with, those who have been abducting innocent Kenyans and dumping them at abandoned river beds at ungodly hours, is the clearest admission of the government institutionalizing the complicit virtue of sleeping on the job and, with it, goes the benefit of doubt the public gave them when they asked for patience to make things right.
This is a plea to the person who shall be appointed Cabinet Secretary responsible for guaranteeing the safety and security of all Kenyans, wherever they may be. You have no time to waste going to a homecoming to laugh with your homies when your docket is currently on fire. We need to put to a stop this normalized behaviour of Kenyans getting abducted by hopeless people who have no regard for human dignity and have never read the law to understand the limits to their constitutional mandate.
Of course you will ignore these calls as mere rantings thinking incorrectly that you’re the owners of all the instruments of violence which you can unleash against those who threaten the survival of the state. It’s okay. There’s no problem. Enjoy yourselves while it lasts.
