Shame on you if you gave the State your arm to twist

The BBI signature collection exercise was concluded this week, leaving Kenyans shocked at the manner in which the government deployed resources on land, air and sea in search of them.

 It was the most efficient government search party to ever have been conducted so far. Kenyans have now realised that the government can actually function for the good of all, if they put their minds into it and corruption out of it.

For the first time, the police arrived in villages without asking villagers to send fuel money before the van left the station. Even in places where locals only see drinking water in their minds, BBI documents were dug out of nowhere and arrived in their homes faster than relief food.

Kenyans are wondering why the government has never deployed the same state machinery to build the Kamariny Stadium, which is historic, in six weeks – because as it has demonstrated there is nothing that can defeat the government if they put their hearts, minds and threats into it.

Service delivery

Kenyans were arriving at government service delivery points to find BBI signature booklets instead of visitors’ books waiting for them to sign before getting inside.

Those who had problems with this coerced arrangement were reportedly being asked to stand aside and allow those who had made up their minds to proceed to the counter.

Kenyans pay taxes in good faith fully aware that they’re facilitating efficient delivery of government services. Your taxes go into the running of your chief’s camp so that your chief can get the energy to swat away office cockroaches every morning, afford to walk around with village security, and eat taxpayers’ money without being asked to account for it.

You do not need to beg for services you paid for in the first place, neither should you present your arm to be twisted before being served at a government office, because if today it is your arm tomorrow it will be your leg, and the day after you won’t have a head.

When citizens allow government officials to stretch the boundaries of public goodwill, there is no telling when they would stop moving the beacons.

Human-rights violations

Putting our faith in human rights defenders is not entirely a bad idea. In a country where people are hired based on whom they know, it is only fair that we send our human-rights violations concerns to those we know on social media. Only that these people are also human and they weren’t created to carry the weight of the world — because if they were you would have found them in your science books as part of the solar system.

You don’t need a human-rights defender to tell you that you shouldn’t be coerced into signing the BBI booklet before receiving a government service.

It is understandable that we are living in Covid-19 times and we wouldn’t want to infect others with the virus if we shouted against bad governance, but that’s why the government has made it compulsory for everyone to wear a mask before accessing government services.

There are people in this country who are used to others going to the streets to fight for their rights as they watch TikTok videos and brush their photos for Instagram likes.

We are providing excuses for bad governance while feigning helplessness, because in our mind there are those who were born to die for our sins as we wait for Jesus to come back for us all.

If we are going to enable government oppression at least we should be honest about it, instead of providing excuses that cannot hold a glass of water.

[email protected]