Kenya is slowly going to the dogs. The
country is steadily descending into anarchy. Lawlessness has become
commonplace. People kill others without a second thought. Everyone
seems determined to resolve every dispute with a bullet, or machete.
There’s mayhem everywhere, all the time, against almost anyone. It
doesn’t matter whether you are the hoi polloi, or a prince. The
clenched fist isn’t far away. Everyone looks like a viper, ready to
spit. Why have Kenyans become so angry? I thought Kenya was a
middle-income country. Aren’t more material goods supposed to calm
nerves? I am afraid that, like in the Second Coming, the famous poem
by Irish W. B. Yeats, things are falling apart. Can the centre hold?
Methinks I know when the rain began to beat us. Kenya hasn’t always
been a violent country. The violence of my youth — until the 1980s
— was the “normal” kind. It was rare and shocked the conscience
when it happened. People would talk about it for days, mouths agape
in disbelief that a murder, or a robbery with violence, had taken
place. Little kids would be afraid to go to school. Some would throw
up just recalling a grisly killing. Others would say such things only
happened in Nairobi. Now pillage and rampage are everywhere. The
so-called “cattle rustlers” in the North Country kill with
impunity. They even slay soldiers and the police as though they were
defenceless civilians. See also: Private parts of 110 men chopped The
history of violence in Kenya is related to the de-legitimisation of
the State. The iron fist of the State under the KANU regime opened
the doors to generalised violence. Political violence calculated to
keep KANU in power begot a culture of violence. It incubated in the
people a philosophy of domination by any means. The 1992 and 1997
elections took us through the door of return. We lost our innocence.
We thought we’d recovered in 2002, but we were wrong because the
2008 post-election violence reminded us of the evil in the political
culture. I believe 2008 marked a turning point — never before had
we witnessed such barbaric disregard for life. We all died a little.
The recent attacks on soldiers and law enforcement personnel at the
Coast and the Rift Valley is a crude reminder of how vulnerable
everyone is. President Uhuru Kenyatta was right to swing into action
right away and order action. But methinks he may be a little too
late. The problem isn’t lack of law enforcement. It’s that people
don’t trust the State to protect them. Everyone I speak with tells
me there are huge vacuums of legitimate power in many parts of the
country. As we know, power abhors a vacuum. Bad elements move in to
fill the vacuum where the writ of the state is wafer thin. People
take the law into their own hands. Let me explain why people have
broken faith with the State. First, like children, the people watch
what daddy is doing, and then copy him. The most important incubator
of violence, insecurity, and the illegitimacy of the State is
official corruption. Senior officials in Kenya are swimming in
corruption. The government is either unable, or unwilling, to hold
anyone accountable. Look at the fraud on land. Witness the scandals
on procurement and infrastructure projects. Officials, their
families, and business associates are making off like bandits. Why
should any citizen live a life of virtue in such a culture? The
storyline in Kenya is that you are the fool if you aren’t corrupt.
Sticky fingers are admired. Second, political leaders are modeling a
culture of violence. We all saw the saga of the Men in Black at the
ODM polls last year. Last month, video footage appeared to show
President Kenyatta striking a person from his car on his arrival from
The Hague. Last week, CORD leaders Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka
looked on — helplessly — as senior ODM leaders rained blows on
ODM Executive Director Magerer Langat. Majority Leader Aden Duale
unleashed invective at Bomet Governor Issac Ruto at a public meeting
in front of DP William Ruto. Governor Kivutha Kibwana was caught up
in a gunfight in Makueni not long ago. How can citizens be civil if
senior leaders are openly resorting to physical violence? Finally,
public discourse itself has become coarse, threatening, and
disenfranchising. The case in point is Mr Kenyatta’s attack on NGOs
and the attempt by newbie Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria to choke the
life out of civil society. The sinister plot is to deny NGOs funding
by external agencies. Only dictatorships resort to such draconian
measures to silence NGOs, the independent eyes of the people. Who, if
I may ask, is going to hold the State accountable if it kills civil
society? Closing avenues of legitimate dissent can only beget
violence.
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