EDITORIAL: Police better beware power of public anger

Kenyans like to pride themselves for creating one of the most vibrant democracies in Africa.

But in the past 10 years, Kenya has morphed, rapidly, into a police state.

The police form a comfortable buffer between a restive population and myopic politicians.

The ogre is on the verge of fomenting such public anger as to threaten the very sheltered lives of the high and mighty enjoying sound sleep when citizens are shot, maimed or killed.

Only one year ago, a spate of kidnappings and deaths rocked the nation on the back of the Gen Z protests. Not one police officer has been held accountable.

The Kenyan police kill and maim with confidence because they have the protection of bosses at the very top. What else would make the senior-most police officers defy court summonses? They believe they are above the law.

But the police and their political godfathers would better remember the power of public anger.

Our comfortable elites ought to remember a young Tunisian hawker, Mohamed Bouazizi, whose death in 2011 triggered a revolt that led to the overthrow of Ben Ali.

The death of Albert Ojwang', if not probed and the culpable officer charged, threatens to inspire dangerous consequences that can blow a country apart.

Quote of the day: “Rebellion against tyrants is obedience to God.”—United States Founding Father Benjamin Franklin invented his Franklin stove on June 11, 1742.