If you must protest, choose your cause very carefully

On the night of Sunday March 4, mobs of youth reported to be University of Nairobi students terrorised motorists along the Chiromo-Riverside Drive Road.

Predictably, they attacked, harassed and robbed motorists of valuables. Reason? They were allegedly expressing outrage at persistent power outages in the larger Kileleshwa area. Really?

Any right thinking Kenyan can think of several better reasons for these defenders of the bastions of intellectual expression can so violently react to. How about the scores of Bills lying in Parliament even as legislators accuse one another of being on the take?

Do photos of internally displaced persons force you to re-check the moral barometer of the nation? Who failed to harvest water so that pastoralists are taking potshots at each other leaving whole swathes of northern Kenya locked in a macabre embrace of death over livestock, water and pasture?

Where is the milk we so generously poured a year ago into open drains as farmers protested at a glut and subsequent dip in returns? Did someone fail to plan for just such an eventuality? So, this year, there is hardly a drop to be seen as shoppers are restricted from buying as much as they can carry.

Where are these Al Shabaab sleeper militia lurking among us, making any gathering of more than 10 people a high-risk exercise? Who shelters them? Is there no outrage at a rag-tag outfit threatening our way of life, not just once, but a record 100 times, according to the Internal Security minister?

Masters of bribery

Who can re-invent John Michuki to prevent matatus from overloading, overlapping without a care in the wide world and being masters of bribery as they seek to keep decrepit contraptions on the highways?

What is the root cause of the annual fires in Gikomba Market and urban slums? The resultant impoverishing of small-scale traders is unacceptable. Who facilitates examination leakages to parents, teachers and students? Does anyone obey environment protection laws anymore? What about noise pollution?

Do you need a really good reason to protest for a good cause, rather than batter and pummel innocent motorists?

Enough said.