On this day, five years ago, Westgate was just waking up the way malls do. What begun just a few hours from now could have been prevented, could have been stopped before it escalated, could have been solved fast, could have been investigated so we never go through it again...
The clusterfuckery that's the other side of this social contract we call Kenya failed in every instance. It ignored warnings, reacted like a drunk sloth, brought tanks to a gun fight, frustrated international investigators, and blew up a pile of explosive mattresses.
Yes, a few men and women were heroes that day. But they didn't have to die or almost die. No mother deserves to have to tell her child to lie on the floor and stay quiet just minutes after the child was having the time of her life buying shoes.
No man deserves to die because he made what he didn't know was a mistake accepting a job, in this economy, as a security guard at a mall.
Westgate, like the death of Alex Madaga, was unnecessary death. Trauma we had multiple chances to prevent, solve, and learn from.
Westgate, like the death of Alex Madaga, was unnecessary death. Trauma we had multiple chances to prevent, solve, and learn from.
Yet the top layer of this sufuria called Kenya protected it's own. It actively saved only those who matter, and then stood by helpless, in tanks and helmets, as if we haven't paid for them to be trained for exactly this reason.
"People sleep peaceably at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."-George Orwell.
At Westgate, a few rough men (and probably a woman) went on a killing spree while the rough men and women we pay to do violence on our behalf bickered outside.
At Westgate, a few rough men (and probably a woman) went on a killing spree while the rough men and women we pay to do violence on our behalf bickered outside.
At Westgate, just as at Garissa, El Adde, and countless others, the covenant was broken. It has been broken repeatedly, and from the look of things, this is just the beginning.
If Westgate taught us nothing else, it is that wherever you are in this KE, whoever you are (except if you were lucky in the genetic lottery), if you find yourself staring at the barrel of a gun, you are alone. Save yourself because no one is coming to do it.
We don't heal as a people. We just learn to move from one trauma to the other because "Mnataka nifanye?"
In this social contract, you are on your own. But you are paying for the thing.
If Kenya was a movie, it would be Final Destination.
End of Thread.
In this social contract, you are on your own. But you are paying for the thing.
If Kenya was a movie, it would be Final Destination.
End of Thread.
