Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Shooting our own feet

My previous post expressed clearly what I thought of the proposed send off packages those men and women in parliament had proposed for themselves. Then come these shenanigans. Why, oh why did these people feel they needed to do this? They are so much worse than those who stayed at home and did nothing.

The law is not a suggestion. Especially one that requires that you alert the police force of where a possible huge crowd will gather. The reasons are obvious. Kenyan crowds historically get rowdy, out of control, burn innocent by passers cars and destroy property. Alerting the police will ascertain that they are made aware of a gathering and available if and when needed as a result of it.

Breaking the law to voice one's dissatisfaction is all dumb. It is exactly the case of a tainted witness. Once your credibility is shot, you have no value. Acts of lawlessness like these actually justify the send off these members are about to apportion themselves. If compensation is to be matched with how much crap one has to put up with, then these kinds of behaviour justify their move. I'm aggravated by these people. And every newspaper and column and blog that wants to portray them as innocent victims. You break the law, you deal with the consequences. Ignorance or purported privileged class citizen membership is no excuse. These people deserve to be in jail, arraigned and fined or imprisoned, whatever the penalty is for the crime.

As for Mrs. Ngilu, her family should really consider seeking her psychiatric help. By all means, that is not 'normal' behaviour. And her recent actions have been less than functional. She is singlehandedly justifying all those who claim women cannot make good leaders because they are emotional. I hope brigadier Ali is working on bringing her in with the huge allegation of aiding a fugitive escape. How a person who runs for the post of president is completely unable to respect the law just baffles me.

I thought I was disgusted with those MPs but I am sure much less irritated by them than these so called deliverers. And the media outlets portraying them as martyrs. Please! These are criminals. They are breaking the law, that's all. I wish they hadn't "helped". If you can't do it right, sit your butt at home. And anyone follow the law or suffer the consequence. And anyone interested in good governance of any institution should be backing that claim all the way.

And people scoff when Kibaki calls them wapumbavu. If the shoe fits...

As for those in Mathare, as unfortunate as it is that a 2 year old died, I refuse to be dragged into the foolhardiness of blaming GSU for using tear gas canisters. At what point do we bestow responsibility on the citizens themselves? They expect that KPLC should have let them continue stealing power? They want justice? they should name their landlords to the police so that we know whom to penalize for all the theft that the other power consumers have had to pay for over the years. And they need to know better than to start riots. Rioting crowds must be dispersed! What do they propose the GSU do? Approach each one and over a drink of Fanta urge them to go home? Seriously! Let's all be responsible. It's our own individual duty to assess a situation and understand its path and consequences. And hence, avoid those that end badly. On some level, the government,they police the MPs and all serving civil servants cannot be to blame for all the stupid things we do as a individuals and as groups of people.

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