Joseph Juma Odhiambo (center), one of the three terror inmates who had escaped from a high-security jail, disembarks from the police helicopter after they were arrested, following their escape from Kamiti Maximum Security Prison in Nairobi, November 18, 2021.
How can these very dangerous people “escape” from the most secure prison in the country?
What exactly do the prison guards in charge of those convicts take their responsibility to be?
I have always regarded the idea of crimes such as treason as a very rightwing concept, unworthy of a person even with the slightest progressive instincts. Just like I believe that it is totally unacceptable for a journalist to sue for defamation, that one’s right to a good reputation is subordinate to another’s right to freely express oneself. (This is, of course, an unrealistic standard. Many times, those who defame are not doing it to express themselves but to injure out of malice or other schemes.)
There is patriotism that is irrational, ugly, almost fascist; where love for country is used to figleaf intolerance, xenophobia and racism. But I do think that even in a more gentle, liberal rendition of patriotism, there is a place for a crime of betraying the country to which you should owe allegiance.
