MATHIU: Why Kimaiyo left Kenyans baffled over his threat to arrest journalists

By Mutuma Mathiu

 So let me tell it to you: the government does not own the freedoms of the people. They are not its property to give. Our right to a free press is not a gift from the President, the Inspector-General of Police, Parliament or indeed any other person or organ. They belong to the people and can only be limited when there is manifest general good to be achieved by so doing.

In Summary

• Inspector-General of Police David Kimaiyo has hoisted himself into a similar position and he seems to leak public goodwill every time he offers his views in the media.
• Specifically, Mr Kimaiyo warned that he was going to arrest two journalists for “provoking propaganda”, whatever the hell that is, and inciting the people against the authorities.
• All that nonsense about matresses and carrying of water in Nakumatt bags has convinced no one. The mall was systematically looted. Instead of confronting the indiscipline in our forces, the authorities have chosen to beat up on reporters. This is beyond belief.

There was a time my brother, Meru Senator Kiraitu Murungi was often in the news for all the wrong, controversial reasons. Wags characterised him, poor man, as a politician who lost votes every time he opened his mouth.

Inspector-General of Police David Kimaiyo has hoisted himself into a similar position and he seems to leak public goodwill every time he offers his views in the media.

I remember watching a catastrophic interview on NTV and thinking “Dear Lord, why did they let this one out?” For Mr Kimaiyo, bless him, is not the most eloquent of men.

But it is his press conference on Wednesday which really exposed him as a man who, though he has spent some time around universities, has not modernised his views about society and rights. He also has a 1990s concept of the power of government.

Specifically, Mr Kimaiyo warned that he was going to arrest two journalists for “provoking propaganda”, whatever the hell that is, and inciting the people against the authorities.

When governments are new in office, they will always do that kind of nonsense. In 2003, the CID arrested the entire leadership of The Standard. I was also invited by the director of CID at the time “for a cup of tea” at his office which I declined and was off radar for a while.

Many attempts have been made to write laws that would allow the government to control the Kenyan press, one of the freest in the Third World. Politicians, because they are mainly self-absorbed and thick, always think the country would be better off with a muzzled press.

FREE PRESS

So let me tell it to you: the government does not own the freedoms of the people. They are not its property to give. Our right to a free press is not a gift from the President, the Inspector-General of Police, Parliament or indeed any other person or organ.

They belong to the people and can only be limited when there is manifest general good to be achieved by so doing.

Also, I don’t think it is going to be possible for anyone to roll back the gains we have made so far and for banana-republic theories of some bureaucrat to have sway in the media. It’s just not going to happen.

Now, going back to the arrest threat. Kenyans know that something went terribly with the rescue mission. They know that the calling in of the military was either premature or ill-advised and that had the SWAT team been allowed more time, they would have rescued everyone, including the VIPs in there, contained the terrorists, and preserved the scene of crime.

Secondly, they already believe that the military behaved in a most disgraceful fashion, looting and feasting as the nation grieved.

Thirdly, they are royally pissed off at being lied to by the military and Internal Security Cabinet secretary, the hapless Mr Joseph ole Lenku.

All that nonsense about matresses and carrying of water in Nakumatt bags has convinced no one. The mall was systematically looted. Instead of confronting the indiscipline in our forces, the authorities have chosen to beat up on reporters. This is beyond belief.

Finally, through no fault of his own, Kenyans believe Mr Kimaiyo was not in charge of the rescue operation. He couldn’t have been: it was a military operation and the military does not take orders from the police.

Mr Kimaiyo is not employed to break the law, although the Kenya police are some of the leading law breakers. He is employed to enforce it, including the laws protecting the freedoms of Kenyans. If he tries to do anything contrary, he will lose, if he already hasn’t.

* * *

I want to wish the best of luck to all those candidates who are sitting their exams this season. I know my views about education and managing behaviour are boring; they are copied from my headmaster, the late Stanley Ndeke.

Mr Ndeke believed in science. You needed his express permission to take the arts. He used to say that good, well-behaved boys don’t walk, they run. So I spent part of my childhood running everywhere.

From him I learnt the value of hard work and discipline, the importance of intellectual rigour and discipline and the centrality of learning to human progress.

So yes, all that reading is a pain but you and the world probably couldn’t exist without it. Good luck.