Blockade was payday for violators

The government attracted widespread condemnation after the Saturday night roadblocks around Nairobi. Thousands were forced to spend hours in their motor vehicles until the break of dawn.

To many of the victims who talked on the fateful night, as well newspaper and television commentators and the scores that shared their feelings on social media, the virtual blockade indicated an insensitive and heartless government.

Many were appalled that thousands were marooned in their cars on a dark, cold night instead of the warmth, safety and comfort of home.

TV news clips showed harrowing pictures of a mother stuck in traffic while driving her sick child to hospital; ambulances and other essential service vehicles that couldn’t navigate past the gridlock; and scores of desperate motorists simply trying to make their way home from work.

The anger was palpable. Many properly opined that with such ham-fisted enforcement of the Covid-19 curfew, the government was succeeding only in alienating the citizens. Some went as far as to venture that such actions would provoke the revolution that would topple the government.

And that’s where the fun began. It immediately became apparent that those affected were middle-class car owners whose revolutionary credentials are limited to Twitter tirades and WhatsApp angst.

If revolution involves taking to the streets and defying police teargas, truncheons and bullets, the chattering classes are more likely to watch unfolding events on a large TV screen from the comfort of their living room or maybe while exercising their arms on beer mugs at the local pub.

Curfew violators

Let’s face it. True, the Saturday night blockade was extreme, and so badly managed it punished the innocent amongst the curfew violators.

It provided no passage for those with genuine excuse to be out at that time, including essential service personnel or those simply caught up in traffic while heading home from legitimate pursuits.

The fact, however, is that the vast majority of those caught up in the dragnet were curfew violators. We are dealing here not with innocents caught up in the gridlock but exemplars of the serial indiscipline that is the bane of this country.

Everybody knows that efforts to contain the Covid-19 pandemic include an 8pm to 4am curfew, restrictions of public and private gatherings and closure or limited operations for bars, restaurants, churches and similar places of commerce.

I highly doubt a single victim of the Saturday night blockade could stand up and honestly plead ignorance on that score — not unless they’d just landed from Mars.

It would be good if any of those yelling blue murder after the inconveniences provided proof that they were legitimately out after curfew hours.

Also, anybody who might have been assaulted or otherwise mistreated by police during the operation should lodge complaints with the rightful authorities. I suspect that very few, if any, will step forward.

We are Kenyans and Kenya is our country. We will continue to rant and rave on social media, threaten fire and brimstone on President Uhuru Kenyatta, Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i and Inspector-General of Police Hillary Mutyambai.

Social media outbursts

We might even feel encouraged that a motley bunch of politicians and civil society activists forever on the lookout for a rebellion will mouth fake solidarity for what we endured.

At the end of the day, however, we will slink home to our middle-class redoubts, tail between the legs, in the knowledge that we have no valid cause of action.

Instead of impotent social media outbursts, our time would be better spent using the Saturday night incident to further dialogue on Covid-19 containment measures.

We can admit that the police were actually very clever in containing us in our cars for a few hours instead of hauling us all into cold, damp and unsanitary cells.

However, we can ask for a serious rethink on whether the curfew hours and the ban on movement into and out of the virus hotspot of Nairobi and four bordering counties is having the intended effect.

Like everywhere else in the world, we must debate if some Covid-19 control measures cause more harm than the disease itself, especially in regard to the ravages of economic shutdowns.

And finally, we must all take a long inward look at the legendary sloth, indiscipline, tardiness, arrogance and sense of impunity that make us habitually defy the curfew and other safety measures and then start crying foul when caught on the wrong side of the law.

And please let us agree that it will take more than disruption of elite entitlement to bring down the government.

[email protected] www.gaitho.co.ke @MachariaGaitho