Some
days ago I was glorying in the wonderful performance of Kenyan athletes
in Osaka, Japan. Their medals put a spring in my step and I
felt like shouting to all and sundry that I was Kenyan.
I
felt like standing alongside world statesmen of international prestige on the choicest
podiums and making a speech in praise of Kenya, about the enigma, the mystery
behind our unwavering, unflagging and undaunted zeal, vim and vivacity.
In
the East Africa region we've all along been the country offered as an
example in a number of respects: economically (as a fast growing
economy); people who are self-driven and ready to energetically take up new
challenges. But
all that is a thing of the past, well, almost.
Some sections of the
Kenyan populace have been trying to do all they can and could do to
sully what has taken sweat and blood to build; what has taken years to
nurture, the vintage Kenyan reputation. I was in Dar es Salaam on Thursday 6th
September, 2007, when I received the rather shocking news that 11
Kenyans had been shot dead in Moshi (a town in northern Tanzania) as
they were planning to raid Exim Bank in the town. The
suspects were killed on Wednesday evening after a fierce exchange of
fire between them and the Tanzanian police. Among the arms found on
their persons were an AK-47 rifle, bombs, bullet proof vests and 200
plus bullets.
Among
the dead suspects was a woman, a Hannah Nyakanyi Kingara, who hailed
from Kiambu. The Daily Nation has reported today, Saturday 8th September 2007, that she was a Nairobi-based businesswoman while two others were on a police wanted list. A
month ago there was another exchange of fire between Kenyan robbers and the Tanzanian police in Arusha (a town that neighbours Moshi in
northern Tanzania) and two of the robbers were killed in the fierce
gun-battles that lasted almost six hours. They had been involved in
a bank heist where they stole more than Tsh 200 million (approx. Ksh
10,526,315).
As
I was in Tanzania when the recent event was reported in the media, I
got to read the atmosphere and know one thing for sure: the good name
of Kenya in the region was irreparably going up in smoke! "Ni hawa wakenya tena, hivi mbona wanapenda kutuonea," was the lament of one Tanzanian. Another
one said, quite forcefully, "Ndiyo maana nawachukia hawa watu.
Shirikisho la Afrika Mashariki hatulitaki kama haya ndiyo mambo
tutakayokuwa tunakumbana nayo siku nenda rudi. Kila mtu akae kwao." (It
roughly translates to: "That's why I hate these Kenyans. Tanzanians
don't need the East Africa Federation if these are some of the things
we'll have to put up with day in day out when the federation comes into
existence." Does
this state of affairs go to show the level of unrest, ‘anarchy' and
desperation that is hidden in many of our people's minds? Or is it the
spill over from the ‘anarchy' and criminal acts that have ravaged Kenya
for most of the last two years, especially? If
these criminal acts are not contained, then, the present level of
mistrust prevalent between Kenya and Tanzania will double, triple,
quadruple ...ad infinitum.
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I may be wrong but I imagine that a proper federation would actually hinder the operations of cross-border thugs if we operated intelligence sharing between the constituent police forces. I think this article could be useful as a talk in a seminar on law and order. The Maj.General Alis and minister Michukis of this world could be made to understand how their cavaliar attitudes to security impact on good neighbourliness. Ignore criminals long enough and they will turn up drawing guns at your airports etc etc
I have read many good articles in Kenyaimagine, some by this author in particular. I think it was an error by all concerned to post this one here. What are we supposed to do, ask the robbers to stay at home?
proudly kenyan