Authorities should spare us acts of violence

A casual look at the news headlines has probably left you wondering whether Kenya faces an existential threat. The police indiscriminately beating people at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi competed with the plundering of billions from the Kenyan Exchequer and a huge fire threatening Mt Kenya region. I was left wondering whether I should be shouting “Dam this country” or “Damn. This Country?” 

The unfolding dams’ scandal has shocked even the most hardened Kenyans. The levels of investment and breadth of complicity is now at the door of the Treasury Cabinet Secretary and his colleagues. It is not the first scandal. Simple arithmetic brings the amount list to nearly Sh1 trillion since Jubilee took office in 2013. Presently, Jubilee faces a five-sided reputational risk. This pentagon includes scandals in the five sectors: maize, public works, energy, health and water. Together they could amount to Sh30 billion.