Lets do something

The article on the celebrity novelist Prof. Ngugi wa Thiong'o's tragedy on return to Kenya, after 22 years in self-exile, makes good reading (Pambazuka News 171: Pan-African Postcard).

While Kenyans are saddened by this event, it is just one among many incidents that was fortunate to receive hyped publicity. Crime affects us all. We should not be seen to be alarmist when it unfortunately affects VIPs. What I suggest is that in our quest to free our continent of legendary crime, we must get back to the drawing boards. Excellent papers, seminars, workshops and the rest won't just do. They are mistaken for elitism. And truly crime is caused due to social exclusion and marginalization especially to the worlds-apart disparity that separates the majority poor and the rich. We have seen, particularly in cases of rape and violence against women that criminals seem to want to derive pleasure but it often turns out that they merely want to irritate and perform a social protest, which of course is unwelcome.

Lets look at the red-light district that is Nairobi's Koinange Street. The other day I was shocked when I was driving near Teleposta Towers, at around 6.45 pm, and a scantily dressed twilight girl was beckoning me. At first I was confused and thought she had been a victim of crime. When I quickly realized she was not, I sped away and that Wednesday evening I wondered about solutions to such social problems. No one seems to be bothered that it is a problem and many of those in the trade appear to be on average well-off. Prohibitionists believe that prostitution is wrong. On the contrary its proponents believe that it cuts down on HIV/AIDS infections, raises government revenue if legalized and reduces the incidents of rape. Do human rights allow sex with a consenting party who is an adult? Is payment for sex a crime? These and many other questions thirst for answers. So we are at it. My plea to Dr. Tajudeen and other well-wishers is that we need to come together and address Nairobi crime as civil society. This is because lamentations only worsen the situations. Lets do something.