It’s time for UhuRuto to slay the dragons of graft, tribalism

The recent Sh52 million bank heist in Thika spoke volumes about our society. The theft was unique in more than one way. First, the alleged suspects are reported to be brilliant university graduates who scored straight As at Nyeri High School. In other words, these were not ordinary school dropouts with no other options but to follow the path of crime. Second, the theft was a carefully planned, yet a very laborious exercise of digging a thirty metre underground tunnel over a period of six months. This speaks of a people not only committed to hard work, but were resilient enough to follow it through to good success.

They were not lazy layabouts who wait to hold up a bank while hiding behind the power of the barrel of a gun. No, these were a people ready to carefully lay out a plan and then work hard at executing it – a not very common characteristic of today’s youth. The question therefore begs: Why would such brilliant, hard-working individuals turn to crime?