Black lives should matter in Kenya, too

It has become fashionable for footballers to make the sign of the cross as they enter the playing field. In Kenya, however, our most fervent prayers are preserved for those occasions when we enter public transport vehicles or when we are about to hit the road. Every time you undertake a long distance journey, you put your life in your hands.

Kenya’s roads have become a battlefield for the war fought by the twin forces of speed and greed, with the latter determining the former.

Thousands of Kenyans are slaughtered, maimed and traumatised each year, sacrificed at the altars of quick profit while their government remains indifferent because most politicians, public officials and police officers have shares in the transport industry and are not going to let a few hundred more deaths put their earnings at risk.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT

It is the poor who use public transport, who die in the road carnage and the poor again who pay double when their government bans night travel.

The slaughter at Migaa is a reflection of what is wrong with our society. The lives of the poor rarely matter except at election time when their numbers are needed at rallies, ballots and protests.

Bloggers and activists have called for heads to roll at the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) but don’t expect Mr Uhuru Kenyatta to take corrective action over the latest slaughter.

Just recall a few weeks ago that he praised the police for their professional performance during the election period, a time when they killed over a 100 of his citizens.

The other day, Nyeri town MP Njunjiri Wambugu posted on his Twitter account that he believes that not one of those who died in that violence was innocent — not even baby Pendo, I guess.

KILLINGS

This is the man who came to prominence campaigning for ICC to investigate the killings during the post-election violence of 2008. When American police torture an African-American, Kenyans join the world in insisting that Black Lives Matter. But when Kenyan police gun down suspects, the same Kenyans remain silent as if black lives in Kenya don’t matter.

Worse still, many applaud when the police kill suspects that later are often found to be unarmed.

The right to respect and to life applies to everyone. These rights go to the deserving as well as the undeserving. That is the message of the Gospel and the Constitution.

The poor deserve to live life in its fullness not because they have earned it, but because they are human like you and I.

POVERTY

But when 45 per cent of the nation remains locked in poverty, who is going to protest when a few thousand more die on our roads or from a rogue police officer’s bullet?

The poor also die in collapsed buildings and out of neglect when sick. The shameful row over the ownership of the St Marys Hospitals will almost certainly result in the poor not being able to access those quality services any more. Leadership from the top is required urgently to bring discipline, order and equality to public life. Dr Fred Matiang’i has shown that it is possible to reverse the rot. But even his efforts, like those of John Michuki before him, may come to nothing if his boss does not support a radical transformation of every ministry.

Father Gabriel Dolan is a Catholic priest based in Mombasa. [email protected] @GabrielDolan1