Moronic, Benji Ndolo?

I am compelled - by the doubling down on stupidity in the security services - to revisit the idiotic ropes-as-security apparatus adopted by the Inspector-General and his minions in their bid to protect...do you even know who is being protected? The ropes-as-security pathogen of idiocy is spreading. Parliament, which already has robust anti-people systems to keep waheshimiwa from getting gunned down or blown up, has now decided to commandeer its lion's share of the pedestrian pavement next to its steel fence along Parliament Road. And talking about the robust protection of our modern day liwalis by Benji Ndolo in the Friday Nation, I have no choice but to slap down this idiocy one more time.

Uhuru Kenyatta, William Ruto, Willy Mutunga, Joseph Ole Lenku, Raychelle Omamo, Amina Mohammed, Henry Rotich, Julius Karangi, David Kimaiyo, Michael Gichangi, Mutea Iringo and Monica Juma are some of the people who would deserve some form of enhanced protection given their sensitive posts in the security and foreign affairs of the Republic. But the idea that men and women who campaigned vigorously for my vote would need to be protected from me is laughable and, in Mr Ndolo's words, moronic. If they were the politicians they thought they were, they wouldn't ask for my vote with the ethnic-splitting perversity that they have perfected, especially since 1992. They have made their bed and if it happens to crawl with some Kenyans who hate them and all they stand for with a passion, they shall lie in it without asking for a platoon of the Kenya Police to keep them safe.

Security arrangements, whether of buildings or persons, is not made from the simple rubric that so and so oversees a budget of 17 billion shillings and his kidnapping for ransom would be a lucrative opportunity for brigands and sundry malcontents. Even in the badlands of the Forgotten Frontier, I challenge Mr Ndolo to identify one instance where rocket-propelled grenades have been used. Security arrangements are made after a careful assessment of the person and the unique threats he faces. For someone like the Head of State, constant motion is a key element in his security; after all, the President cannot hide who he is or where he is going unless it is being done in a civilian, unmarked vehicle without visible security. A Cabinet Secretary does not need a three-car convoy with armed personnel speeding recklessly into oncoming traffic just so he "can arrive at the office at 6 am to receive briefings" unless there is truly a national crisis that requires his presence in the office.

Kenyans have given up much without getting much in return. The State, in the guise of its officers and its buildings, is now demanding pedestrian walking zones. If you think this argument is overwrought, look at all those Cabinet Secretaries and Principal secretaries who must drive on pavements or into on-coming traffic just so that they are always in motion to avoid assassins. This idiotic approach to VIP protection is being taken to extreme ends by the roping off of pedestrian spaces without any discernible security benefit but great risk to lives and limbs of pedestrians. The logic of pushing pedestrians onto oncoming traffic continues to defeat me. How that makes the CS or PS safer remains a mystery. What it does, though, is to piss us off. And a pissed off population is unlikely to view your security proposals with any kind of favour, Mr Ndolo.

The best security is when the people have a desire to keep you safe. We don't. We won't either if the high and mighty continue to swan about as if they are God's Gift to the Huddled Masses. And given the degree of incompetence these characters have demonstrated in the execution of their public duties, there is very little incentive to even afford them the simple courtesy of respect and deference. Our economy is in the shitter. Fellow Kenyans are being murdered in cold blood. KCSE and KCPE certificates are being held hostage by crazy-eyed headmasters. Famine and starvation are slowly killing thousands of Kenyans. Bhang-smoking matatu drivers are setting records of how many passengers they can put six feet under every day. Police are living in squalor and filth. Magistrates and Prosecutors are cheek-to-jowl with thieves and rapists because courtrooms do not exist. And Mr Ndolo would demand of us forbearance for what amounts to a cabal that has singularly failed in its duties. Maybe he is the moron.