On Tuesday, September 5th 2017, I was in court as has been usual for the past few weeks, Tuesdays huwa tunaskiza criminal cases, then this 14 year old is brought in together with big men from remand. They come into court each with only one shoe and a stench of urine and shit comes in with them. The stench already pleading guilty of the troubles they faced in remand. The boy is still in his uniform- apparently preferred committing crime rather than going to study to avoid it. He looks unbothered and quite comfortable. He is read his charges: “Umeshtakiwa na kosa la kumbaka mtoto wa miaka kumi na moja. Unaitikia ama unakataa?” He denies.
“Umeshtakiwa na kosa la kumlawiti mtoto wa miaka mitano. Unaitikia as unakataa?” He denies.
Everyone now has their eyes on the boy, his uniform, his baby face again; even the magistrate is shocked and asks him his age. He says 14. He shouldn’t be in custody/remand with adults- it’s against the law but there’s nowhere to hold him and the crimes are serious for him to be allowed to roam around out there. There’s never such cases here. So the magistrate is forced to send him to a nearby Police Station till the next hearing; but she complains she’ll be in trouble for that. He is still a child as per the law.
Now another 14 year old, apparently proud and arrogant, burnt down a dorm just so that she can be transferred to a school befitting of her caliber. Moi Girls is beneath her. Probably Braeside is more ideal. For that pride, she kills 9 others. Apparently, even Mary-the now deceased heroine- had come to get her out of the dorm before going back to save others. This whole time, she stood there, watching the flames raze down the building, smell of burning flesh…and she didn’t feel anything? She didn’t bother to wake up her decker mate and others. She had to watch her creation grow and thrive? She had to wait and watch, like a psychopath, she had to watch that even Mary, woken up by screams had to call her to go out and still went back to wake others deep in slumber or lost in the smoke.
Another set of 7, aged between 17 and 24, gunned down on their way to commit crime.
What is it with this generation? Watu wa late 90s na 2000s? Ni nini mbaya? We’re probably missing something, as a society and a species. Or maybe I am the one who has not been paying attention till recently and this is normal- we’re having extremes on both sides of the scale. We’ve become too much a disease, detrimental to ourselves and to this planet. Kari kí…warris this?