By Jerry Okungu
Nairobi, Kenya
January 13, 2011
I have always maintained that Kenya is a unique country on this planet earth. It is a country of many firsts. The things we do, how we conduct our public affairs are uniquely Kenyan. We are so unique that we have become a case study for the rest of mankind around the globe.
Only in Kenya can public servants collude with crafty businessmen and raid the Central Bank of billions of dollars for close to two years without being caught or detected. And even after getting confessions from the masterminds, still the culprits cannot be successfully prosecuted and made to refund the loot.
Only in Kenya can we have an Attorney General serving in office for 20 years without prosecuting a single case of economic crime or successfully prosecuting and convicting any major murder crime for the same period and still get paid handsomely for the same period.
Only in Kenya can one run an illegal extortionist and murderous militia group like Mungiki and recruit top politicians as members to protect their leaders from prosecution. And when their leaders are arrested and charged with murder, all the militia leaders can do is to hire an equally crafty lawyer to threaten the political class with potentially damaging affidavit implicating leading politicians of the land. And when such a threat is issued, the Attorney General hurriedly drops all cases and releases the criminals as money hungry religious groups wait to embrace such criminals in their congregations.
It is only in Kenya where a policeman can be caught on video camera chasing an unarmed 15 year old boy, shoot the poor child several times at point blank range and kick the lifeless body before walking away. However, when such a policeman is arraigned in court, there is no sufficient evidence to connect him with the murder of that teen ager.
It is only in Kenya where a white farmer can shoot to death Africans on two occasions and call them poachers then get a three year sentence for manslaughter on the second incident while the AG enters his famous no le prosequi in the first incident.
Only in Kenya can a Member of Parliament be publicly named as a drug lord, arraigned in court on charges of economic crimes and still remain an honourable Member of Parliament and participate in making laws of our land.
It is only in Kenya where the Prime Minister can sack two cabinet ministers in the morning and the President reinstates the same ministers in the afternoon citing lack of substantive consultations by his prime minister.
In Kenya while in power, you can invade and grab thousands of acres of public land and even build tea factories on them and when you are finally caught and faced with eviction, you are allowed to name your price!
It is only in Kenya where a public servant can con the President to launch a non-existent oil pipeline and fake fibre optic cable supposedly landed at the coast of Mombasa and get away with it. In the same country, a public servant can spend Ksh 1 billion on 5000 acres of a ranch without any immediate plans to build the supposed ICT City in the near future. However, when ranch owners raise the alarm, the issue is quickly glossed over by the country’s Vice President as politically instigated.
In Kenya, a traffic policeman can be wrestled to the ground by a lorry driver in the fully glare of TV cameras and members of the public yet the amused public walk away as if it was a small drama.
Yes, Kenya is a uniquely great country because it is here where youthful land grabbers, fraudsters, drug lords and militia warlords can come together to offer themselves as the new generational revolutionaries ready to move this country to the next level of development; never mind their criminal past. In other countries, they would have either been shot dead or locked up behind bars for decades.
It is in Kenya where Parliament can pass laws to day and three months later table a motion in Parliament to repeal the same laws if those laws happen to undermine their political careers.
It is in the same Kenya where political parties do not mean a thing to politicians. They change them as often as they change their shirts or shoes depending on circumstances. In Kenya, political parties are strictly for winning elections every five years. After that it is normal to form new alliances necessitating the formation of new outfits agreeable to all the new partners.
Yes, it is in Kenya where all these and more can happen and we still go on with our lives undisturbed.
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