On David Ndii, you do not heal by suppressing pain

The recent incarceration of NASA strategist David Ndii by the Government can be equated to a case of an ugly girl who breaks the mirror because she blames it for what she sees in it. Coming days after a pompous inauguration that set back the taxpayer Sh300 million, it was grossly ill-informed.

The President and by extension the Government seem to have forgotten that adherence to the basic tenets of democracy is more of a personal choice than an oathed responsibility. Vaclav Havel, in one of his many writings, noted that “the transition to democracy had brought a dazzling explosion of every imaginable human vice and that society has freed itself, but in some ways it behaves worse than when it was in chains.” It, therefore, follows that democracy will never be kind to anyone’s ego. The Government has to contend with this harsh reality and behave accordingly.