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How can Kenyans allow this madness to go on?
#71 - 0--clubafrika--How can Kenyans allow this madness to go on?--2006-03-03 14:52:56
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What happened at the offices of the Standard Media Group in Likoni and at their M&E offices on Kenyatta Avenue last night was as despicable as it was obnoxious. Let Kenyans resolve that whoever was responsible for this shameful and destructive act, whoever they are or may be, must be brought to book!
Kenyans are in a state of shock. We, like never before have been placed in a state of panic. Now that it has happened to the Standard Media Group, the ugly truth has dawned on us that we are actually being governed by thugs!
For how else can one explain a bunch of hooded men in masks, wielding all manner of crude and lethal weapons, wantonly dismantle printing and broadcast equipment, cattle them away and kidnap a few employees on the scene to the nearest police station and keep them there for three hours?
But the most important question to ask is this; why did they do it in the way they did it? More importantly, what was the Standard Group's most heinous crime they had committed to warrant this wanton destruction of their media house?
Without any fear of intimidation, Kenyans must ask the highest office in the land to tell them who was responsible for this national shame. Did the President know about this? Did the Internal Security Minister know about this? Did the Police Commissioner know about this? Did the Minister for Information, the Government spokesman or any body else who mattered know about this beastly act? - If it is true that these hooded men were actually national security personnel on hire by a single disgruntled member of the ruling elite, then this country has gone to the dogs. Let us pray to God that this incident was the mastermind of a lone ranger and that it had nothing to do with the official position and attitude of the government on freedom of speech in Kenya today.
However the most chilling thought the message has sent across the nation is that state terror is back with us in full swing. Now we know that none of us as individuals are safe wherever we may be. Now we know that if the men in uniform need any of us, they will not bother to go to courts to seek warrants of arrest. They will not bother to wear their uniforms, carry their ID cards or any form of identification. More importantly, they will pay us a visit past midnight when we are deep asleep, come masked in their deadly attire and do whatever they want to do with us. And they will remain unknown to the rest of society for as long as it takes.
On a more sober note; if the government was pissed off with the Standard Group for a variety of reasons, if it had gripe with the media house for one reason or another, there were more civilized options open to them without resorting to the crude methods of the '80s and early '90s.
All they needed was to revoke the trading licenses of the media house on grounds of existing laws and summon them to the Ministry of Information and the CCK to explain why they had breached publishing and broadcasting laws. Three to four days off the streets and airwaves of the media house would have cost them a fortune without making the government appear thuggish and silly.
Now that it has happened, the fact still remains that whoever was the mastermind is not yet over and done with us. They may be planning other raids in other media houses that they may feel uncomfortable with.
The tragedy is that what happened at the Standard was coming all along, only that we didn't expect it to happen the way it did. A series of events in the last one year point to the fact that press freedom has always been grudgingly tolerated by the new regime.
When David Makali and others were arraigned in court over the Odhiambo Mbai murder tapes, we thought it was a one off act of overzealous police offices. When the First Lady raided Nation Center in the dead of the night and laid a siege there for close to three hours, we thought the Mother of the Nation was unwell and we forgave her and forgot about it. When the alternative press has experienced raids and arrests from time to time, we never really gave them a thought. When last year Kenya Times editors were arrested for incitement, we could live with it hoping that they would be acquitted of those flimsy charges. Now the men in masks have driven their point home like no other.
If the government cannot come out in good time to give a convincing explanation or some statement of some sort, the rumor already hitting the streets is going to be difficult to control. This government owes us an explanation and an apology. We have a stake in this country as much as our rulers have. We cannot allow a few selfish individuals, whoever they are to drag us down the drain with them. We refuse to be cowed by these cowardly acts.
This country has spent billions of its meager resources pretending to fight corruption and initiate reforms yet in one swoop of an act; they take us ten to fifteen years back to the era of terror and darkness.
If we have spent billions of our cash trying to show the world that we are a reform oriented society then why send the darkest message to the same people just when we thought we were getting out of the woods? Haven't we done enough damage to this country with our Goldenberg scam, Anglo Leasing scandal and the John Githongo tapes? Haven't we gotten enough bad publicity internationally with our bungled constitution review? Haven't we suffered enough embarrassment with our failed coalition government? Must we continue shooting ourselves on the foot when we are already down?
If Kenya is to remain a normal country, this act cannot be allowed to go unchallenged by the political class, parliament, the civil society, the religious society and any other group that cares for this nation. Now is the time to know traitors from patriots. Our government has gone berserk.
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