When the moment of truth comes

Some people, really! Tell me if you think this is one dumb thing to do. 

Cops aren't the most beloved of civil servants the world over, and in Kenya they are reviled almost universally. But not all of them are bad people. Actually many of them are rather honourable chaps. Remember that AP who calmed down a riotous mob during the dark days of the PEV? And how many of you think that the traffic cop "Bensouda" shouldn't be respected and recognised for forcing matatu crews to see her point of reasoning?

Whenever the RECCE Company is called in, Kenyans heave a sigh of relief because hey know, bar a Karangi-sized blunder, some very bad guys will get very big holes in their heads and innocents will be rescued. We may think that Karangi's spec-ops soldiers botched Westgate, and that they have been a bit heavy-handed when deployed in domestic policing situations, but they are still proudly our troops and we salute them every time they kick shabbies' in the teeth.

The men and women who serve in our disciplined and defence forces are our fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, friends and lovers. There are many rotten apples among them, but they keep us safe in very difficult circumstances. There is one cohort of Kenyans that enjoys the services of the disciplined forces, especially the police, for a fraction of their true worth: elected representatives.

According to Inspector-General Boinnet, there are 11,000 policemen guarding various VIPs and VVIPs. Because of this security blanket, this cocoon of steel, elected representatives do not have to worry about the petty indignities ordinary Kenyans suffer at the hands of brigands and purse-snatchers. Neither do their spouses, lovers, children or properties.

So why would one of the gilded elite shit on the very people who keep his ass from getting fragged by shabbies? We may have our differences with the Commander-in-Chief, and some of those differences will put us at cross-purposes till the end of time, but be in no doubt that he loves and respects his troops, from the cop on the beat in Isebania to the Chief of Defence Forces at DoD HQ. So when he asks - not demands - asks! you to get off you fat ass and pay a moment of silence in memory of cops and soldiers killed in the line of duty - or just even killed - you get your fat ass off your chair and bow your fucking head in respectful silence.

If you don't, don't go around bitching to the judge when cops understandably don't want to protect your ass from muggers and murderers. If I were a cop and I were a bodyguard for some asswipe in bunge and that asswipe refused to respectfully acknowledge that my colleagues were killed in the line of duty because of a beef with the C-in-C, I would have very strong feelings about keeping around him as his bodyguard. I would go to my Commanding Officer and I would respectfully ask to be reassigned, even if the reassignment took me to Lokichar or Baragoi. I have a feeling my colleagues would have strong feelings about it too.

So what makes this dude think that getting a court order - an order! - for police to be assigned for his protection will end well for him? In 1984, Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India, ordered Operation Bluestar to proceed. It deeply offended Sikhs in India, of whom some were members of her elite bodyguard, who joined a conspiracy to assassinate her. I am not saying that officers of the ]National Police Service are going to assassinate an MP because he was being an ass; but do you really think they will lay down their lives for him when the moment of truth comes? 

I wouldn't.