God, as Kenya we need a sign now

By SILAS NYANCHWANI

A palpably sour and sombre mood engulfed Nairobi this past weekend. For days our minds were completely arrested as we waited for the outcome of the hostage.

When movie stuff becomes disastrous live TV coverage, it stops being funny. No James Bond or Jack Bauer heroic exploits to a cheering crowd. In our case, it was teary Kenyans trying to make sense of the terror attack.

Terrorism has permanently compromised our lives, for worse. Nothing evokes painful tears than seeing innocent lives being lost so helplessly, so senselessly.

When you take a moment to reflect and empathise with those who endured the ordeal at Westgate Shopping Mall, a seething pain sears through your body, cursing the perpetrators.

Everyday, as we walk out of our houses, we don’t know what the day will bring. Life has become so fraught with risks; fear has become the common denominator in our life. Uncouth matatu drivers, ever so high on stuff drive with reckless abandon. Accidents are a daily probability.

Thugs shoot innocent Kenyans daily and nothing is done about it.

Parting with your hard-earned money, valuable electronics is now an occupational hazard of living in this city where insecurity is a forgotten problem by the government.

Walking in the streets is even hazardous. Policemen and hawkers are constantly feuding and the only solution is teargas.

Nairobi has increasingly become like Kampala, and being teargased is a daily treat.

You can be mugged in broad daylight and the begging in the streets has now been institutionalised. The young kids being used will soon become a source of terror as they are likely to start using human stool to blackmail the helpless citizens. No one seems to notice that begging in the streets is getting out of hand, and with the hardening public attitude, the street families have to be innovative to get something from the already overtaxed citizen.

A time has come when we must forge a sense of ‘Kenyanness’. There are those who are narrow-minded as to continuously think within tribe and political associations.

Prior, to the hostage, some people demonstrated in Gatundu, over the unfair and indiscriminate VAT bill on commodities previously exempted to protect the poor. You would think that is something universal, but there were those who reacted like, ‘you voted for them, may you feel the pinch.’

This is faulty reasoning. Individuals will always belong to different political and religious attachments. But what affects us all is what should unite us the more.

And at Westgate, before we knew who was behind, I heard friend joke that the place should be robbed because it belongs to the rich who might not feel the squeeze. How sad? By the time, we knew that it was an act of terrorism; we collectively came to our senses because we know terrorism knows no class.

We need to be united the more on other fronts. May we gather positive energy from this act and learn the best. While these things are inexorable, we can learn to improve on how to respond to emergencies, collectively as Kenyans and more so the institutions we have entrusted with the responsibilities.

 Finally, it must be difficult being God. Terrorist kill in his name. Pastors steal in His name. Everyone is making all forms of demands from Him. Caught between are innocent citizens equally seeking protection from above. When you look at religion keenly, you wonder why it wreaks so much pain. God we need a sign.

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@nyanchwani.