Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko provides a classic case study on how low we have sunk as a nation, how much we have compromised leadership ideals.
It begins with intelligence; keeping his dark secrets under wrap, allowing an alleged known felon to roam freely and conduct his business, using his wealth in the process to win support from citizens and law enforcement agencies, selling him classified information as well as providing him with protection.
How did Sonko escape from prison and how come nobody came for him when he roamed our streets freely including vying for an elective position and actually winning it? Was it by design, as state agencies got entangled and got compromised or did somebody sleep on the job? State agencies cleared him numerous times to run for elective office yet within the public domain, his criminal past illuminated his shadows for all to see.
Was there really a background check or was someone covering for him? Sonko has physically violated his opponents yet no action has been taken against him, casting an image of one above the law.
The failure of state agencies to reign on him has continuously energized him to trample on people of divergent approaches to him, creating a reign of terror, a violent gang leader sanctioned by the state, his violent character becoming more evident as his clout grew.
Yet we continue to grant him immunity. Sonko is building a criminal empire, which if left unchecked will drown and run down any formal system out to counter him. As he subdues his rivals, often violently, he appears to build an armour of criminal gangs around him, for protection.
With his entrenched political power and an army of loyal gangs, he is capable of countering and offering a formidable resistance to any lawful attempt to counter, arrest or subdue him. He continues to charm people with his questionable wealth, not to endear himself politically but to barricade himself against lawful authority.
Political expedience, shoddy investigations and a compromised police force has presented us with a nation under the control of goons as leaders. Parliament too has failed in their vetting and oversight, often cleansing dirty names to fulfil their political ambitions.
It’s evident crimes pays, is glorified and rewarded. It is a pretence for the government to tell us now that they are acting on Sonko, a man they gave a free hand to roam the streets, damage people’s careers and benefit from immunity.
We need to clean the police and even our Parliament, for sanity to reign. Otherwise, this country is headed in the wrong direction. Our integrity is below the bar.
Wasio village, Migori
