Kenyans woke up to 'wonderful' news yesterday morning that one of the most wanted gangsters in the country had been shot dead outside the home of his estranged wife in Athi river after surrendering to the police.
At last, Kenyans were convinced that the security apparatus was finally 'waking up' from their deep slumber, which saw criminals operating unabated, wrecking havoc and getting away with it to the chagrin of law-abiding citizens who have been living in fear.
The execution of Samuel Matheri Ikere, a man credited with bank robberies and at least 8 murders could be 'good news' but this does not mean that the crime rate will come down. And neither will this latest development cause criminals to think twice before engaging in the dangerous trade. You see these are not the sixties or seventies.
There is a new brand of hardened criminals that have surfaced in the underworld that has even puzzled law enforcers and citizens alike. Unlike in the old days where the gunning down of a criminal would affect his colleagues who would be badly shaken and probably quit for a while, today's gangsters are a hardened lot who are as vicious and brutal as they come.
This can be proved by the fact that criminals don’t fear policemen anymore and even carry out revenge missions against law enforcers to the amazement of the public. This year alone, about 20 policemen have been shot dead by gangsters.
Today's criminals are also much younger compared to those of yester-years and we now have 16 year old kids wielding automatic rifles menacingly in the country's highways as they steal cars and kill motorists when they feel like it, even when they offer no resistance.
This teenagers live a disillusioned life where they see themselves as heroes and not villains and not surprising, their heroes are gangster music rappers like the late Tupac Shakur, Snoopy Doggy Dog and the late notorious B.I.G. who all glorify violence especially the so called drive-by –shootings popularly known as 7-11 in the United States. It is no accident that one of the most popular slogans in the industry is "get rich or die trying."
The minds of these care free youths have been poisoned further by the 'video culture' in middle and low class neighborhoods where video houses show movies that glamorize crime and violence linking it to the so called 'good life' filled with beautiful women and exotic cars not to mention raw power and influence.
For instance, in an estate like Kayole in Nairobi, six in every ten teenagers have seen an illegal firearm and probably know the basics of how to operate it with most of them being sucked into criminal activities through peer pressure from their neighbors and friends who convince them that they are too sly to get caught or get killed.
A friend of mine once visited a bar in the area during the day and was shocked that there were a few teenagers shooting pool who ALL had concealed pistols which were visible under their belts when they bent down to strike the ball on the table.
The most unfortunate fact about all this is that the parents of these teenage gangsters only come to know of their son's activities rather late when they have been shot dead or wounded during their deadly missions.
With an obscene unemployment rate, youngsters joining the underworld is common these days as they have very limited choices to eke out a honest living and have given up on life and getting shot dead in a robbery gone awry will be the last thing to bother their young minds as they go about their criminal activities.
For the girls, the only outlet for them is turning into prostitution or going after elderly rich men who 'keep' them as mistresses and supply them with all their requirements including a roof over their heads, clothes and food in exchange for sex whenever they feel like.
It has now become evident that fighting crime in Kenya will have to be one big team effort that focuses on long term gains rather than just quick fixes. We will not succeed by only offering cash for illegal fire arms (as important as that initiative is) but it will also be important to get the youth busy through sports and creating jobs for them so as to end idleness and a sense of hopelessness among these most productive age group which has now turned out to be the most destructive.
John Troon's shocking revelation about Moi and Biwott
Hi Chris
ReplyDeleteThis post and the one preceding it [on why kenyans may now support extra-judicial killings] are some of the reasons why i have come to think highly of this blog
A corrupt judicial system might not touch so much right now on the lives of many of your readers-including me- but i pray that one day, when i need justice, i won't prefer to obtain it outside the legal justice system-even if it means death
i didn't want to say it but i'll say it anyway (with a heavy sigh) the police still need better training-prosecutors need to build better cases against criminals et al-
Luke (armchair spectator(C))
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI rarely participate in blogs, but your articles drive the point home. So keep up the good work.
Crime? Crime? Crime? Do we lack the definition?
It is more than a police training issue. Kenya will need to attack crime from its roots, and not the approach being taken of "trimming the grass from their buds like the way the city council does it along Jogoo road with pangas as blunt as wood"
If I was in Kenya and jobless and after tarmacing for months on end without getting anywhere; with no regard from the government on my toiling, with no food for the morning (do you call it breakfast?) nor anything for the day, and not just for this one day but as a daily event, I could probably be forced into these dark caves of "robbing" and "prostitution". Can you pause for a while and think of those last 2 words? These are very heavy words and don’t wish them upon yourself. Crime for the abled and prostitution for the meek and humble. So if you meet a prostitute tip them or pay them well as they have taken a better alternative (gunless)
So how do we tackle these issues? It must be a concerted effort! Community policing. Citizens reporting crime suspects, they share matatus with thugs carrying guns. And it starts and ends with the government playing its role well above the expected average. Create jobs. Create policies that address the poverty issues in this country. Train the police well not as a government misuse machinery. Pay them well too and don't force them into soliciting for bribes (eg paying them a cleaner's tip of Kes 500 to escort Kes 20,000,000 security van and not even paying for the damages once they die in the line of duty). How many forces personnel & families of some of their deceased relatives are outside there who have gone without receiving even the little money the government owes them (equivalent to tips!) Why would some of these people waiting for non-forthcoming justice not turn to crime with a bitter vengeance?
Tourism which is a great national income earner in this country was just starting to pick up, but we failed to learn why it went down in the first place, crime and lack of respect to these people who come here to take break from their routine life, to rejuvinate themselves. These are sources of more jobs.
What has the government done in the last few weeks that crime has been towering its head? Nothing! Yes, foreign government’s are issuing travel advisory warnings to this country, yet the government has not issued any "meaningful" statement or even better still, action to assure even its local citizens.
In the meantime, tourists are considering alternatives like driving 4x4 cars in the Dubai desert. Kenyan intellectuals are looking for ways to escape out of this country and we cry of brain drain. Kenyans are being rendered less and less productive, after all they cannot work till late in the evening, lest they get attacked in the dusk!
Our youth cannot venture into politics as the old and dusty have monopolized the line to the parliament which has ensured that this country is being "swept" by the brooms of the 1960s while newer brooms are pushed aside by the old turf.
What else can I say? Sorry Kenya at the pace things are happening!
But take heart dear one, in any case we are better than Congo!
Jacob Ochieng
jowuor@yahoo.com