A friend recently bought a car, and as is customary, she took it to a garage for servicing and other touch ups. When the job was done, the mechanic who had been attending to the car advised her to consider extra security measures since the model she had bought was common on Kenyan roads, making it a magnet for thieves that target certain exterior car components.
The mechanic recommended riveting the side mirror covers, the car emblems in front and at the back, fog lights and lower bumper trims, and also insisted on installing anti-theft guards to the headlights. But this is not all – the window visors and splash shields were also reinforced, as well as two other parts whose names escape my friend.
As it is, her new car, which looked like a shiny jewel when she drove it out of the car dealer’s yard, now resembles a German man called Rolf Buchholz, who happens to be the world’s most pierced man…
The theft of car parts has been a long-running pandemic in this country, and is something that has been the source of persistent headaches in our police force. The first time I witnessed a thief prying off side mirrors from a car in traffic, I was horrified by the audacity.
But that was several years ago – since then, I have witnessed a couple more incidents because this kind of theft is now common, especially on Nairobi roads, which are prone to gridlock.
A thief will calmly approach your car and proceed to pry out whatever he wants, and since there is fear of getting stabbed to death by his accomplices should you try to stop him, you helplessly sit put, praying that traffic will open up ahead before extensive damage is done.
I imagine that this is the kind of experience that can put a dent on one’s self-esteem. The fact that you know you should do something to stop the injustice going on right before your eyes, but common sense urges you to choose meekness.
‘Our’ thieves are audacious and will steal anything. I say this because just the other day, I saw a video circulating on social media of a thief caught on camera stealing clothes off a hanging line. In broad daylight.
Those who recognised him said that he sold second-hand clothes. Now, even our clothes are not safe when we put them out to dry, and there is a possibility that the nice second-hand pair of jeans you’re wearing might belong to your neighbour.
Forget stolen clothes for a minute and turn your attention to the senseless vandalism of infrastructure, which is largely driven by unscrupulous scrap metal dealers. Guardrails are installed today, the next day, they are gone. There are also cases where whole street lighting poles are stolen, or cables stripped off, plunging long stretches into darkness at night, a factor that contributes to car accidents due to poor visibility.
And how could I forget the blatant theft of transformers? A colleague was complaining the other day how she and her neighbours had been without electricity for a week because the neighbourhood transformer had been stolen. Imagine that.
Embezzlement of public funds
Theft seems to be an ingrained habit, and thinking about it, it starts right at the top, where systemic corruption is embedded in core institutions, such that now, embezzlement of public funds is viewed as the norm, rather than the exception. A common occurrence that long stopped raising eyebrows.
What, then, is a little stealing here and there by the common mwananchi? After all, the ones we have entrusted with our billions in the form of taxes, taxes that are supposed to secure our futures and those of our children, have no qualms about partaking of the money to enrich themselves.
We have a big problem on our hands, which we can start chipping away at by holding corrupt officials, starting at the very top, to account. Recently, the High Court upheld the conviction of former Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu, his wife and co-accused in a Sh588 million corruption case .
The man, according to the Nation, ‘faces continued imprisonment, loss of assets valued at millions of shillings, and a 10-year ban from holding public office’. Hopefully, many others who have abused their positions of power, in the process defrauding the people of Kenya, will follow suit.
