Goodwill a better bargaining chip
If I was a clever young reporter in the service of a media house, there are a couple of steps I would consider in taking forward this whole siege business at the Karen home of former Interior Cabinet Secretary, Dr Fred Matiang’i.
First, I’d take a look at all the denials so far issued by the government to get a sense of where to focus my energies.
I’d go with the one that came out first—that of Inspector-General of Police Japhet Koome, who was quite categorical that “no officer under the National Police Service” was sent to arrest Dr Matiang’i.
That is not a denial of the siege necessarily; it is a denial that officers from NPS had executed it.
So, I’d naturally turn my attention to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), the other substantial force which is not under the command of the NPS.
I’d get my good man, Maj (Rtd) Twalib Abdallah Mbarak, the Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of EACC, to deny again, on the record, that he issued orders to his officers to execute the arrest of Dr Matiang’i.
This would lay the foundation of other possible stories and follow-ups—such as the possible existence of a rogue unit within EACC operating with orders from outside the established chain of command, kafka style. This is, of course, speculation—armchair style.
Then I’d do a bit of gumshoe work. I’d pay particular attention to the movements of the former Interior principal secretary, Dr Karanja Kibicho, for whose blood some elements within Kenya Kwanza have been baying.
In any case, the PS Interior, with access to security services and immense resources, is the core of government.
I’d also trace any suspicious behaviour on the part of ex-Treasury CS Ukur Yatani.
As the chief financial gatekeeper of the Uhuru administration, I’d expect an anti-corruption crackdown on that government to pay particular attention to him since, at the very least, he would know where all the skeletons, if there are any, are buried.
Then I’d go to the estate, speak to the security, establish the positioning of security cameras and negotiate access to footage.
I’d speak to everyone I find, especially guards and domestic staff, tens of them, trying to establish whether the gate had been blockaded by an army of men in ‘Subaru ya Mambaru’.
I’d then walk and sketch the route from the estate date to the gate of the Matiang’i homestead, locating every surveillance camera. Lastly, I’d knock on gates and get myself thrown out of homes (You only need to be lucky once to get your story).
When officialdom or other interested parties mop up photos and footage, they target the big media houses first.
I’d make a list of freelancers who could reasonably have been there, the ones that nobody outside of the media knows exist, and find someone who still has footage or photos.
If I come up dry, I’d attempt to make a list of all the night runners in the Karen and Ngong area and shift the direction of the story to: What we see as the mighty sleep. It would still be a cracking good story.
Intimidation
Seriously though, I have never understood the Kenyan practice of arresting people with a lot of violence at night, traumatising their families and causing them psychological harm. I suppose it is an intimidation thing. Being hunted down by the authorities is intimidating enough.
I remember many years ago when then-Interior Minister Chris Murungaru was kicking our backsides for something we had written about him.
We thwarted him by surrendering Kamau Ngotho to the courts and applying for anticipatory bail; it is a time-tested and useful tool to protect citizens against state intimidation. But intimidated we were as we sat on those court benches.
Like the Kanu-style mass defection of MPs, this whole Matiang’i saga is an unnecessary distraction for the government. You can only have so many diversionary events.
Goodwill and popularity are not forever; they dissipate organically or are blown away by the storms of politics. Creating a culture of goodwill and achievement is a much better guarantee of longevity in office than brutality, revenge and score-settling. When you seek to control people through force and fear, what will you do when they screw up the courage to stand up to you?
Many of those speaking up for the manner in which Dr Matiang’i was treated are not doing so necessarily because they consider him blameless and a paragon of good behaviour; he may well be guilty of the same conduct being visited on him.
But as somebody argued, bad behaviour is not our teacher; we shouldn’t strip people of constitutional rights and take leave of civilised conduct just because we accuse someone of having conducted themselves in a similar fashion. The point is better made when those who disobeyed the law are granted the full extent of its protection.
From what I see on social media, Kenyans are an angry lot. They celebrate and encourage the humiliation of powerful people. It is not a healthy or productive culture, but that’s a story for some clever reporter to sink their teeth into. BY DAILY NATION
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