Thursday, March 02, 2006
POLICE THUGGERY AT STANDARD NEWSPAPERS
Could a meeting between Mwai Kibaki and Kalonzo Musyoka be a threat to national security? Is this the reason why the police had to react by destroying the sources of dissemination of such highly seditious and sensitive news?
It is good to learn we have a QRU squad in the police force. It was indeed quick to respond to the news of threat to national security at the Standard newspapers. May be Osama bin Laden had been seen in the vicinity; maybe he was hiding in the building ready to address the nation through the KTN television network. Maybe the Standard was about to reveal another secret meeting of oranges and bananas. All these are plausible causes for the thuggery that was visited on the Standard, but they are not justifiable. Even if bin Laden was to address the nation from the studios the wanton destruction and mayhem was not necessary. The use of anti terrorist commandos to destroy equipment, beat and rob innocent citizens, burn newspapers and cause panic and alarm in the journalistic world is a dire violation of the rights of the people of this country.
The crack squads in the Kenyan security system are quite adept at flagrant display of raw power. They exhibit their ruthlessness to the wrong people. Beating innocent employees going about their business and shouting obscenities and stealing their phones does not augur well for a disciplined force. Respect for the law and protection of the innocent is paramount in any operation. This is never instilled in the minds of these goons who end up acting like the very thugs they are supposed to be hunting. Given that they were obeying orders, the civil thing to do would be to get court orders and then execute them in a manner commensurate with their training and regulations. Even then, dismantling of equipment, if ever justified, should be done in a civilized manner.
Was Osama bin Laden in I&M Towers or Likoni Road? Why did the police raid these premises in the middle of the night? So they think by burning the days edition they would stop the dissemination of information? That is classic idiocy and myopic thinking, stopping a man from speaking does not stop him from thinking. The thought will always somehow end up being vented and verbalized. But I guess this is too complex for the government system to comprehend hence, they seek to kill and maim the messenger.
We spend a lot of tax payers’ money to train and equip our police force, but when the same force is turned against innocent civilians, something is drastically wrong. Destruction of private property in the name of national security is scandalous. In a country that prides itself of being democratic, the practice of the democracy must be institutionalized. We cannot talk of democracy in the abstract; it must be there in every day operations and activities. Right from simple actions like letting the law take its cause when there are issues in dispute. It is not the work of the police to mete out mob justice on institutions like the mass media or wreck havoc and create chaos in private investors’ domain.
When will the government learn to respect the very laws that lead civilized societies? When will the government realize that the freedoms we enjoy are not gifts and largesse to be dispensed to their cronies but inalienable, fundamental, natural and succinct rights bestowed to all by virtue of their being human? For how long will the government continue to undermine the democratic space that cost the lives of many, and the continued impoverishment of others to create and nurture? For how long shall we continue to send wrong messages to the international community that they are the ones who do not understand us? Is it any wonder that we are beginning to be treated like a pariah nation in the international community? We are our worst enemies. The things we consider small and insignificant are the one that gain maximum attention. A raid in the middle of the night is headline news world wide in the middle of the day. Just because we are asleep does not mean the world is not awake. The gains of the last few years can be set back a decade by the actions of a single night. Let sobriety and reason supersede chaos and mayhem. Justice and candor supersede injustice and casuistry.
Charles Wairia
USA
It is good to learn we have a QRU squad in the police force. It was indeed quick to respond to the news of threat to national security at the Standard newspapers. May be Osama bin Laden had been seen in the vicinity; maybe he was hiding in the building ready to address the nation through the KTN television network. Maybe the Standard was about to reveal another secret meeting of oranges and bananas. All these are plausible causes for the thuggery that was visited on the Standard, but they are not justifiable. Even if bin Laden was to address the nation from the studios the wanton destruction and mayhem was not necessary. The use of anti terrorist commandos to destroy equipment, beat and rob innocent citizens, burn newspapers and cause panic and alarm in the journalistic world is a dire violation of the rights of the people of this country.
The crack squads in the Kenyan security system are quite adept at flagrant display of raw power. They exhibit their ruthlessness to the wrong people. Beating innocent employees going about their business and shouting obscenities and stealing their phones does not augur well for a disciplined force. Respect for the law and protection of the innocent is paramount in any operation. This is never instilled in the minds of these goons who end up acting like the very thugs they are supposed to be hunting. Given that they were obeying orders, the civil thing to do would be to get court orders and then execute them in a manner commensurate with their training and regulations. Even then, dismantling of equipment, if ever justified, should be done in a civilized manner.
Was Osama bin Laden in I&M Towers or Likoni Road? Why did the police raid these premises in the middle of the night? So they think by burning the days edition they would stop the dissemination of information? That is classic idiocy and myopic thinking, stopping a man from speaking does not stop him from thinking. The thought will always somehow end up being vented and verbalized. But I guess this is too complex for the government system to comprehend hence, they seek to kill and maim the messenger.
We spend a lot of tax payers’ money to train and equip our police force, but when the same force is turned against innocent civilians, something is drastically wrong. Destruction of private property in the name of national security is scandalous. In a country that prides itself of being democratic, the practice of the democracy must be institutionalized. We cannot talk of democracy in the abstract; it must be there in every day operations and activities. Right from simple actions like letting the law take its cause when there are issues in dispute. It is not the work of the police to mete out mob justice on institutions like the mass media or wreck havoc and create chaos in private investors’ domain.
When will the government learn to respect the very laws that lead civilized societies? When will the government realize that the freedoms we enjoy are not gifts and largesse to be dispensed to their cronies but inalienable, fundamental, natural and succinct rights bestowed to all by virtue of their being human? For how long will the government continue to undermine the democratic space that cost the lives of many, and the continued impoverishment of others to create and nurture? For how long shall we continue to send wrong messages to the international community that they are the ones who do not understand us? Is it any wonder that we are beginning to be treated like a pariah nation in the international community? We are our worst enemies. The things we consider small and insignificant are the one that gain maximum attention. A raid in the middle of the night is headline news world wide in the middle of the day. Just because we are asleep does not mean the world is not awake. The gains of the last few years can be set back a decade by the actions of a single night. Let sobriety and reason supersede chaos and mayhem. Justice and candor supersede injustice and casuistry.
Charles Wairia
USA
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