Of course it is ridiculous for children to face off against riot police wielding weapons. The National Police Service, when in riot control mode, is not known for gentleness when dealing with protesters. But if there is any adult in the Ministry of Interior and Co-ordination of National Government who believes that a confrontation between tees and pre-teens and the tear-gas-shotgun-wielding policemen would end well, I believe there is a bridge in London they might be interested in purchasing. It was going to end in tears. And it did.
Whether children should exercise their rights and freedoms under the Constitution is not as simple as it sounds. It wasn't a simple black-and-white decision when the children of Soweto protested how apartheid affected their education and it wasn't simple when the children of Langata Road Primary School were used, and are being used, as pawns in a broader pro-Jubilee/anti-Jubilee political war. Some allege that land thieves are having a field day under the current regime; they are emboldened enough to exercise dubiously acquired rights over real estate with the confidence that not much will be done to challenge their tenuous holds over the properties. Indeed, some are very confident that when they do exercise their rights they will do so with the full protection of the National Police Service.
The President and Commander-in-Chief has reiterated his commitment to fight graft on may occasions. The institutions that constitute his government have done a great deal to undermine the President's pledge. The case of the Langata Road Primary School playground offers the President yet another opportunity to do the right thing but from the media appearances of politicians and public officials, it is quite clear that core of the challenges facing the President will not be challenged. Heads and sand will make contact, pray for the storm to blow over. Ostriches will be proud.
It has been two years and even given the sloth-like speed of the public service when it comes to reforms, the pace of change at the Ministry of Lands continues to raise doubts about the reform credentials of the Jubilee administration. Mwai Kibaki initiated the digitization of Kenya's land records; three ministers under him oversaw three separate programmes, the last being the half-assed attempt by James Orengo. It is Uhuru Kenyatta's turn now and for this onerous task he has Charity Ngilu doing the heavy lifting. However, one gets the feeling that other than the political fanfare of ten-day registry closures, and photo-ops at Ministry offices, business-as-usual seems the preferred way way of addressing the rot in land administration. As a result, doubtful titles are used to obtain local permits for morally reprehensible projects that affect the poor and the forgotten.
What we are witnessing in the aftermath of the #OccupyPlayground protest is a government desperately looking for any excuse not to take responsibility for its own stark failures. When the Cabinet Secretary for Lands, Housing and Urban Development and the Chairperson of the National Land Commission assured parents and stakeholders that the playground belonged to the school, the unlawfully erected perimeter wall should have been demolished. Nothing happened. When the civil society industry announced that it would march to the school to guarantee that the children's rights to play in the field was respected, the deployment of the police should have been for the purposes of protecting the children from harm.That is not why the police were there, if the teargassing of the children is to be seen in context. The mealy-mouthed attempts to blame civil society, the children's parents and the school's administration for the outcome of the protest is one more sign that despite the messaging discipline of #TeamDigital, this administration has a poor understanding of its priorities - and its duties.
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