I don’t know if I’m the only one who has noticed this but it seems like in the last couple of months, evil has become emboldened. I say this because of two things:
The first is a rise in crime in my area of residence, with the police doing nothing about it. The streetlights at the place where I live have more often than not functioned optimally since they were installed years back. Occasionally they would go off but not for long.
It’s now been a while since they went off. The repairs are taking longer than usual. We’ve had two robberies at the place. One of the victims went to report to the police after she was robbed coming out of a butchery at 7pm. The police kicked her out of the station and told her she was to blame for going out at night.
Interestingly enough, we no longer see the area’s police van around anymore or officers patrolling the area. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out who messed with the streetlights. And the neighbourhood people are probably right to think the police are in with the robbers.
One wonders when they will spring to action, when someone has been killed and people take to the streets to protest? Mark my words, it’s only a matter of time before the robbers are bold enough and start killing people.
The second issue is the matatus. Like many Kenyans, I use matatus to get around, mostly from home to work and vice versa. The matatus operating on the route I take have largely been disciplined (there will always be bad apples). But in recent weeks all that has changed.
The matatus are now overloading and there are no cops to enforce discipline on that road. There used to be cops who helped to keep the matatus in check. Now they are no longer there. Of course, the traffic cops came with their fair share of problems, but they were good for something.
I chose these two issues because who doesn’t want to be safe? And who doesn’t want to get to the office in the morning, and home in the evening, without having sweaty bodies pressed against your face? (Especially with Kenyans’ aversion to opening vehicle windows) And if the vehicle were to roll, you want to know you can easily get out or rescuers can reach you easily?
To me, however, the irony is that these two evils seem to have been emboldened just when we have a God-fearing leader at the helm. The first part of Proverbs 29:2 says, ‘When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice’. But it seems Kenyans are destined always to mourn. Where we expected reprieve, the bad things seem to have moved to a higher plane. The future looks bleak indeed.
That said, the police need to step up to the plate. But Kenyans need to play their part too and not fuel impunity. I have said this before and I’ll say it again, why board a vehicle that’s clearly full? That matatu conductor is not doing you a favour. The police should apprehend all such people and slap them with fines, then they will know to play their part in maintaining order in our society.
