Travel and Personal

The fun never stops in Kenya

By Dweep Chanana ⋅ March 3, 2006 ⋅  Email this post ⋅ Post a comment

It seems the fun never ends in Kenya. Just yesterday I was telling a friend here that Kenya was relatively stable, compared to West Africa. Then I get alarming news from my friends KJ and Laura Walubengo (of Capital FM fame) of the latest scandal. To borrow their words, this one is ‘a big deal’, and outrageous.

Yesterday night armed members of an ‘elite’ police unit raided the offices of KTN (a leading TV station) and The Standard (a major newspaper). The offices were ransacked, looted, and property destroyed, and both the TV station and newspaper forced to go offline - at least for the day. Read these two stories for a dramatic recounting: The Daily Nation and The Standard.

The policemen were stupid enough to be caught on video (but were hooded). But apart from incompetence of the police, this episode demonstrates so much that is wrong with Kenya’s government. Sure, it is an attack on press freedom. More important is the manner of the attack - without warrant and at night in unmarked cars - more like that of petty gangsters. The government and senior police officers first feigned ignorance, and some still do. Clearly, one arm of the ‘law’ does not know what the other arm is doing. Most telling was the statement of Interior Minister John Michuki, ‘when you rattle a snake, you must be bitten’, referring to a story by the Standard, on political machinations within the governement.

So this action is no more than payback? The Kenyan government has become little more than organized mafia, with no respect for its own constitution and responsiblities. And President Kibaki is the head of the largest organized crime ring in East Africa.