By Eric Wamanji
If there is anything standoffs are good for, it is their propensity to produce exposés. And so, it passed that last week, we were treated to some rancorous muscle twisting about the small matter of guns. You see, there are some big boys in this country whose toys include stuff like guns, and are ringed by a retinue of gun-stashed, mean-looking fellas ready to crush your rib.
Then, it happened that Joseph Nkaissery, the CS Interior, himself a master of guns, touched some of these gadgets. Like all kids who love toys, there was brouhaha as the boys came out throwing tantrums.
In this mix, a pink cat jumped off the bag. We got the dizzying figures of the massive security detail attached to VIPs especially governors. Some of them have a whole infantry at their disposal.
This would not have been a big deal were it not that this luxury is at the expense of Wanjiku who is left to her own security devices. Our police-civilian ratio is pitiable. Therefore, hogging a whole chunk of officers for a few personalities renders ours a classical Orwellian society. In simple terms it is scandalous, immoral even.
Granted, the leadership package is a mixed bag of fortunes and risks. Therefore, leaders deserve security. But to seize everything, living crumbs for mwananchi who toil and soil, and failing to work out modalities to improve the lot of the mass security, is fraudulent and wicked.
Trivialities
And characteristic of Kenya, the security standoff was reduced to two trivialities: politics and ethnicity. Every commentator, including journalists, missed the nuances of security, the spectre that is haunting all Kenyans. In their simplistic manner, they quickly saw a Cord V Jubilee gladiator kind of contest. Some even fallaciously insinuated that reducing the security of a governor, and revoking a gun licence of one man, is tantamount to an attack on a whole tribe. That’s how myopic we are.
High-ranking politicians too, when they came out guns blazing in the most selfish, egocentric and greedy manner to defend their interests, never uttered a word about the security of Wanjiku.
Yet, every hour, Wanjiku is robbed, mugged, raped, at the whims and caprices of criminals gone lose. Police are hardly available to assist. This is raw hypocrisy and betrayal of the people. And as Hans Morgenthau, a political philosopher would remind us, a man who was nothing but ‘political man’ would be a beast, for he would be completely lacking in moral restraint.
Indeed, the insatiable greed and self-centeredness of the political class manifested their beastly nature. And, yes, they lost a silver opportunity. An altruistic leader would have initiated discourses on the general state of security and how to improve it.
Security is king. To John Stuart Mills, it’s the “most vital of all interests.” Thus, great leadership ordained that those discourses should have hit the nail on the head and seek to revolutionise our security systems and apparatuses.
Jinni in the force
And so, great leaders should be questioning why they feel so insecure amid their own electorates and what is eating into the national security frame. For instance, it would make more sense if we explored the jinni that is haunting the police force. They have been accused of corruption and complicity to frame people. They are at the beck and call of criminals who conspire to harm rivals. Is it a case of incompetency, complacency, poor training, poor equipment, motivation or just a force gone wild and rogue and averse to reforms?
Then once we spot the tumour, we should be calling the scalpel and regardless of the pain, cut off that damn thing. Folks, these politicians have the powers to make sound polices and demand their strict implementation. For instance, we would expect a politician to cut on the expenses on luxury to and channel the funds to security. Why they didn’t do that for your sake, they can only explain.
It is not that the government is innocent in these theatrics either. For instance, the CS should in fact shed some light as to how Hassan Joho owned a riffle, a reserve for government forces, in total contravention of the Firearms Act. So, how many other illegal licenses have been issued to that effect?
But no, no one demanded a radical revolution on the security system. Clearly, money and power have obfuscated the consciences and intellectual faculties of the elite.
Indeed, the security saga has exposed the raw greed and egoism of our leaders. Sadly, folks, its at your expense. Indeed, to paraphrase George Orwell’s Animal farm, the politicians serves the interest of no voter except himself.
Writer is a media and communication advisor