Gun victim’s injury must raise level of debate

NAIROBI: The past few days have been replete with the ever good news of how our nation can stand with one of its own, via the #IStandwithJanet hashtag.

Seemingly forgotten in this moment of kindness has been the story of Jane Mwangi, recently covered in sections of the media.

A declaration of interest here: Jane and I studied Communication at Daystar University, and served together at Involvement, the student newspaper.

The bigger point to be made, however, is what her life-threatening injury tells us about our society and the State’s responsibility towards its citizens.

She cannot, at this stage, walk because a gunman grazed her spinal cord with a bullet for her M-PESA pin, and now relies on family for assistance towards the most basic of human bodily functions.

At the time of this writing, she had raised Sh3 million, way short of the Sh10 million needed for advanced treatment abroad.

She waits, hoping that somehow the gap may be bridged, but not for much longer.

The attack that occasioned this occurred on May 28, 2015, as she walked home from a church in Nairobi.

In an age of increased national avarice, it must concern us all that it has come to this, and that gun-related violence is no longer the daily worry of some far-flung American State.
Rural and urban renewal must exercise the minds of our policymakers, so that no other Jane is needlessly shot, or street urchins evicted by night to a place they barely know, as was the case in Uasin Gishu County a few weeks ago.

That an estimated 500,000 arms remain in private hands in our land without licence is a continuing invitation for us all to ponder the promises and limitations of the bandit economy that greases the engines of rural and urban life.

The final, but more critical discussion, needs to happen around the State’s responsibility to Jane and others like her.
A time must come, in our land, when it should not be enough for citizens to fund-raise for one of their own’s suffering owing to lapses by the State.

In Jane’s case, for instance, it would be more encouraging to see the State acknowledging its failure to protect her, and being at the forefront in her care and treatment in tangible ways.

It would also be a great time for Embakasi North MP James Gakuya, Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero and Senator Mike Sonko — and Jane’s ward representative — to take an unequivocal stand on the State’s role, as well as their own, in this matter.

It would be a great time for public testimonies, petitions, legislation, rallies and media appearances on the kind of Nairobi they would want to see in this regard.
But her situation is not going to gain traction with the public if our leaders’ agenda does not flow from the implications of this one tragedy.

To nudge our public officials towards this end, it must become our task to organise around issues, and not the theatre of the absurd that sometimes passes for our politics.