Lessons from MPs encounter with carjackers

The carjacking story of Khwisero MP Evans Akula provides many lessons.

He was driven around town for two hours without the police catching up with the carjackers.

Instead, the officers opted to camp at his residence. This shows the police are always a step or two behind criminals.

After being released, the MP was given a stolen car to drive himself home. Supposing the police knew about the stolen car and spotted it with the MP at the wheel?

Wouldn’t they have shot him thinking he was a ‘most wanted’ thug? If that had happened, wouldn’t the police have insisted that indeed the person they shot was a gangster especially after rescuing the car’s owner from the boot? Who would have believed the MP did not force the vehicle’s owner into the boot?

broad daylight

I was once a victim of carjacking in broad daylight. The first thing the carjackers did after bundling me into the backseat was to remove my jacket and have one of the thugs wear it.

If a bystander had witnessed the incident, his report to the police would have included a description of my jacket. However, after the jacket swap, I would have become a suspect.

Many things change immediately someone is carjacked and the police should never shoot indiscriminately at the occupants of a stolen vehicle because the likelihood of an innocent person being harmed is very high.

Mr Akula had not carjacked anyone but here he was driving a stolen car with a carjacking victim in the boot. Those were indeed strange circumstances and thank God both lived to tell their stories.

But who was the other man? His ordeal was about four hours longer than the MP’s.

Why don’t we know his name? I am sure if he were the MD of a company, his name would have featured prominently as did that of the MP.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but when it comes to human life, we are all equal before God, irrespective of our background.

The other man’s insignificance in the story reminds me of George Orwell’s Animal Farm where all animals are equal but some are more equal than others.

Through objective journalism, we can change that and have a society where everyone feels important and valued.

— James Kihali, Bungoma