RIP Moshi & Guards

So I read in yesterday's paper about Denis Omondi whose plan to party with friends ended tragically with his death. On being denied entry to the club which was full, they sought to gain access through an alternative route where they found a small window open. He creeped through, was met by the building's askaris who descended upon him with blows & kicks. His friends were seperated from him but could tell he was in trouble as he was lying motionless in a pool of blood. Their request to the guards to let them take Denis to hospital fell on deaf ears as the guards insisted that they had to wait for the police. It was about 3 hours later that they were allowed to leave with him (as the police went about arresting the guards) and take him to hospital. He died a week later at Nairobi Hospital.

Rewind to a few days ago when I heard Atwoli championing for the rights of guards to be armed. I'm sorry ... Are we talking about the same people? Have we not all had strange brushes with askaris? Should we not all be shouting in solidarity (forever) against the very notion that these guys should be armed? Haven't enough people suffered?

Have a safe day.

Thika Road Expansion Project = Hell!!!

These road works which have been going on since the dinosaurs died (or were beamed to a parallel universe where they have great intellectual discourse) is driving me crazy! First there's the dust. I feel like a miner. Can I get workmen's compensation due to the dust inhalation? (apparently, the tax payer's money that was to be spent on the Ocampo 6 was to be considered under this very broad bracket). It get's so bad that if you stand in one spot for 15 minutes the dust they wash off you would be enough to germinate a seed in!

Then there's the traffic. Jana I was caught up in the black hole previously known as Forest Road for over an hour! And of course, Kenyans being Kenyans had figured out a way of creating 5 lanes that were miraculously meant to funnel into 1! And given that situation, everybody's an expert! "We nani! Rudi nyuma ndiyo tuingie!", "Si usonge mbele? Hii nafasi yote umewachia nani?!" "Kama hujui kuendesha si ungewathca gari home?!"

Then the roads change daily. That you've used one route in the morning is no surety that it will be there in the afternoon. It won't just be closed, it will have been dug out by those big machines. It will be up to you to figure out how to go where it is you were going, even taking a 10km detour to find yourself on the other end of the crater!

And pedestrians are not spared either. Other than the fact that you risk life and limb walking along for lack of a side walk of any kind to speak of, there are other hazards. My friend spent the night at her sister's place in Kasarani. In the morning when she left, she couldn't find a bus stop!

Have an orderly day won't you!!