Former Chief Justice David Maraga couldn’t stomach that the judiciary or some Judicial officers had blots. Maraga would come out guns blazing in defense of the Judiciary every time questions and suspicions were raised against the institution that he led.
When some senior officials in the Kenya Power Company were arrested for crooked deals, none but the current Cabinet Secretary Charles Keter complained and protested the action taken by economic crime and anti-corruption agencies.
The defense of institutions and officials accused of various misdemeanors is growing by the day.
Indeed, the latest by the Police Service after Citizen TV aired an episode, whereby undercover journalist, Purity Mwambia detailed how police and criminals are involved in guns, police uniforms and bullets hiring and selling racket illustrates what I am writing about.
Frankly speaking, this denial attitude has reached a point whereby Kenyans may be left wondering how we are rated almost top of the world’s most crime, corrupt and bribery-laden country.
Methinks the only three left believing there is corruption, crime and other ails in this country are the general public, President Uhuru Kenyatta and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
This might explain why despite his strong resolve and determination, the President is yet to slay the dragon of corruption in this country.
How can he when underneath him thousands of public, state officials, including politicians are in denial?
It is so pathetic that exposing and arresting a politician for any crime, including corruption the tendency is for colleagues to start an orchestra and sing, nay, shout at the top of their voices about victimization for not supporting Uhuru’s development or political agenda.
Yet if there are no bad apples in governing institutions this country would not only be developed but having the highest per capita incomes in Africa and the world.
With that in mind, watching DCI boss George Kinoti’s presser defending the police against accusations that some in the service are criminals brought tears to my eyes.
Kinoti has every right to defend the police service but Kenyans have a right to information about the conduct of police and indeed all government officers whom they pay to serve them.
Kinoti and his team performed a time-wasting exercise displaying and demonstrating various guns and their manufacturers’ markings in an effort to prove the hired arsenal by the TV reporter didn’t originate from the police service armoury or standard-issued firearms logs and lists.
This display and explanation was totally unnecessary because the issue isn’t whether the guns belonged to the government but how crooked policemen or women are involved in hiring out guns, handcuffs ammunition and service attires to criminals.
Such crooked officers could not necessarily hire out government-issued guns and handcuffs but those already plucked from the criminal world by the police service itself.
This is common knowledge since the police service keeps citizens informed that thousands of illegal firearms and other crime gadgets are confiscated from cattle rustles, terrorists and criminals every year.
Indeed, there is an annual illegal firearm burning ceremony conducted by none other than the Head of State at Nairobi National Park.
The same is conducted by various agencies on counterfeits, illegal substances and expired products on small scale.
Surely which adult Kenyan hasn’t witnessed wayward police officers and criminals being arraigned in courts for misusing police service uniforms and even guns?
If Mr Kinoti wants to tell and prove to Kenyans that such illegal guns and ammunition cannot land in the hands of indisciplined police officers, that is a different story altogether.
The DCI should be telling Kenyans what he and the service are doing to dismantle such rackets because like day is light and night is dark they exist.
Why are Kenyans not convinced by Kinoti’s defense of the service on this gun racket issue?
The answer to this question lies in what Kenyans witness and experience on daily encounters with the men and women in blue!
Our roads are a perfect example of how traffic police have become so daring in taking bribes from motorists without any care in the world.
Illegal police roadblocks are in every other stretch of the road and highway yet the Inspector General of Police has issued an official circular on where, when and how roads blocks and police checks should be conducted in the country.
In a nutshell, the police has turned road safety and general security into money-minting enterprises.
I won’t dwell on the illegal things police are doing as a result of the curfew imposed by the President to curb the spread of Coronavirus because that is in the public domain.
Does the service wants Kenyans to be blind when CCTV footage of police led by a senior officer break in and steal money, beers and spirits from a closed bar in Nairobi during curfew hours?
Ask boda boda, bar owners, traders and you will grasp what am writing about.
This is one time when one feels compelled to highlight these issues the risks notwithstanding.
This is the risk Citizen TV, Purity Mwambia and her colleagues have taken to expose real crimes in this country.
One hopes that Purity Mwambia and Citizen TV will not be victimized for doing what is right for society.
On the moral and patriotic pedestal, Kenyans salute Purity Mwambia for her boldness.
We need more such courage but unfortunately, it is lacking where it matters most and that is in the government and political sector.
Finally, by stating in his statement that the Citizen TV story was deliberately aired to malign, tarnish embarrass the police service and undermine national security, Mr Kinoti should be aware these are weaknesses that President Uhuru Kenyatta is struggling hard to rectify.
Kaunda wa Muchunku
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