Tuesday, January 25, 2011

The cutting edge


By THE WATCHMAN Posted Monday, January 24 2011 at 19:23

Stop hypocrisy. Though he would never condone the execution of suspects in cold blood as happened the other day on Lang’ata Road, Nairobi, Justus M. Mutua says he abhors the condemnation of police whenever such incidents occur. “Less than two weeks ago, the Shauri Moyo deputy OCS was shot by thugs and nobody lifted a finger! Police officers are human beings too. They are our brothers and sisters and they are involved in a risky job. One of the latest victims had a pistol. Ask yourselves, what for?”
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Shoot them dead. Those condemning the police officers who executed three suspects have most probably never fallen victim to armed robbers, remarks Raphael Oduori. “Just ask yourselves what those fellows intended to do with the gun one had. We often blame police over insecurity, but keep quiet when the officers are killed in the line of duty. But when crooks are shot dead before they kill, rape and maim innocent people, we complain loudly. Anyone in illegal possession of a firearm has no business staying alive!”
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Cleanse the police. The time has come to stop the extra-judicial killings by special police squads, which have been doing so with impunity for many years, remarks Mitchel O. Orwa. For him, the starting point should be to appoint an independent professional body to investigate cases of police misconduct and punish the culprits. “This will ensure that there is discipline in the force, as is the case in the military. All those involved in such killings must be immediately identified and suspended, pending the outcome of investigations,” he concludes.
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It’s a rip-off. Just back from a visit to Uganda, Peter Mugeni says Safaricom’s arrangement with MTN doesn’t work well for Kenyan subscribers. “While Safaricom has an arrangement with MTN allowing for calls at Ksh18 a minute and no charge on receiving, this is not true. You won’t be able to make any calls until you switch to the ‘Safari Tariff’, which charges over Sh200 a minute. It is a pure rip-off. I was in Uganda on January 6 and 7 and was cut-off as soon as my airtime was spent.‘‘ His number is 0721829879.
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Hollow peace. Talk of reconciliation time by the political class rings rather hollow, says Martin King, on the Rift Valley MPs’ reaching out to President Kibaki, whom they invited to a peace rally at Eldoret. “Now, don’t you think that with these politicians having assured the President that they want to promote peace and reconciliation, their second gathering, next weekend, should be at Bondo, the home district of Prime Minister Raila Odinga, to make peace woth him too?” For further discussion, King’s email is martosore@gmail.com.
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Don’t listen. There is a good reason why the government shouldn’t listen to those complaining about the demolition of buildings to allow the expansion of Mombasa Road, says Martin Tairo Maseghe: “While as early as 2006, the government was clear on its planned expansion of the road, and even earmarked the land it would acquire, some developers went ahead and constructed. Taxpayers’ money will now be used to settle inflated compensation bills. Those who allowed these developments must be held responsible.”
Have a well-planned day, won’t you!
E-mail: watchman@ke.nationmedia.com or write to Watchman, POB 49010, Nairobi 00100 Fax 2213946

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