Let Kenyans build a culture of mutual respect

NAIROBI: Police cells have a mellowing effect on most people who find themselves there. It was not different with the eight legislators who ran afoul of the country’s laws and were detained for four days.

Their incarceration marked a turning point where national institutions responsible for the maintenance of law and order; the National Police Service, the National Cohesion and Integration Commission, National Intelligence Service and the courts acted to send a message that leaders cannot continue to act with impunity especially if the welfare of the nation comes under threat.

The arrests sobered the legislators and made them look at issues from a clearer perspective. In the cells, they demonstrated rare unity that many would have thought impossible a few days earlier. And therein lies the lesson for citizens who are quick to pick up the war chants of their leader to insult and threaten one another. When the law finally catches up with them, they serve prison sentences individually and no one cares about them.

Behind bars, the leaders forged a common front, contributed to purchase and smuggle a phone into the cells, shared meagre facilities and devised a plan to set up a single defence when they appeared before the court. That should alert the public that war-mongers should never be taken seriously, for at the end of the day, they will be looking after their own interests and patting each other’s back over a sumptuous meal while the poor citizens fight, kill and maim in the defence of such insincere leaders.

As Kenyans, our strength must lie in our diversity. We must cultivate a culture and the ability to accommodate each other’s views. A contest of ideas, a key component of a working democracy, should just be that, and not an excuse for inflaming passions at a time when national cohesion is of utmost importance as we head into the 2017 election period.