I don't know if George Muchai was murdered or assassinated. I probably never will. I am curious, though, about the strange reaction to his killing. Mr Muchai was killed together with his two armed bodyguards and his driver. Of that there is little that is disputed. How he was killed has been the subject of speculation by politicians, trade unionists and clergy men, with us none the wiser as to whether there was one assailant or more, whether the Kidero CCTVs around the Central Business District work or not, and whether Mr Muchai's killing is the beginning of the killing of other elected representatives or "an isolated incident."
As is their wont when one of their colleagues is in straitened circumstances, or has been murdered/assassinated, the elected classes rally round the flag and speculate furiously about the incident. Mr Muchai's killing has given some members of his party the opportunity to speak their mind about their fears for their safety and to demand from "government" a swift investigation, a robust prosecution of the perpetrators of the heinous deed and, "kama ni kuwanyonga, wanyongwe!" by the indefatigable Ferdinand Waititu. They are all worried that some unknown assassin is coming after them.
I know very little about Mr Muchai's political and pre-political careers, save that he was a senior official of the Central Organisation of Trade Unions, and that he had made allegations about a missing 120 million shillings from the Union. He did not seem to make public appearances, or if he did he wasn't notable. His murder/assassination, therefore, raises questions about who Mr Muchai really was, and what he really did when he wasn't being Member of Parliament for Kabete.
The reactions by members of his party are telling. The classic posture of we-are-special-so-protect-us remains alive, and their demands are the proof that we needed, if ever there was one. Their safety, and security, remains prioritised over ours because they are more important than us because of their elected status. It follows, therefore, that if one is not an elected representative, even a lowly member of a county assembly, one has no status, one is sot important and one's death can come to pass at the hands of a murderer without undue national worry. (Exceptions to this rule no doubt exist; I bet if Dr (Hon) Chris Kirubi were murdered/assassinated, there would be great government angst over it.)
Until Uhuru Kenyatta and Joseph ole Nkaissery accept that the principle purpose of policing is not the safety, or security, of the million-shillings-per-month elected classes, or that of the flag-bearing ministerial cohort, or the pay-us-or-else constitutional commissions bandwagon, but the safety and security of the general public, the likes of Mr Muchai will forever remain targets of those who would wish to do them harm. When policing's priorities place the safety of the public at the top of the list, a logical outcome is that more Kenyans will have confidence in the national Police, more Kenyans will be willing to accept higher taxes for better working conditions for policemen and the general atmosphere in our cities, towns and villages will be more optimistic.
But because policing still operates in the classic colonial pattern, the general public is a threat to national security and political stability, therefore, it is to be policed in a hostile and aggressive manner. The logical outcome of that system is that the entire public safety system is untrustworthy, and the people it is meant to keep safe from the people are only mourned by their fellow plutocrats when things go tragically wrong, as in the case of the lat Mr Muchai. Worse still we will forget his death soon enough, just as we forgot that of Mugabe Were, George Saitoti, Orwa Ojode, Mutula Kilonzo, Otieno Kajwang' and Fidel Odinga. Unless we have true police reforms, the cosmetology being attempted by Uhuru Kenyatta and Joseph Nkaissery will do nothing to stem the hostility that "government" faces, nor engender empathy when "government's" agents are felled by murderers'/assassins' bullets.
No comments:
Post a Comment