There is a series the Ocampo Six should watch. It’s called American Crime Story -The People vs OJ Simpson. When legendary football player OJ was acquitted of the crime of murdering his wife and her friend, he went home and threw a party. It was sponsored by Star magazine (They paid a six figure sum for photos from the bash). OJ, whose trial had morphed into something bigger than the murders – Into issues of race and the disenfranchised black man in America – didn’t understand why no one came to his party. Sure, there were many hanger-ons and those that benefit financially from him but where were his friends?
It finally dawned on him that an acquittal from a court of law was not an acquittal from public opinion. He was guilty (he even admitted it in a book he later wrote) but his trial had become about something bigger than him. The trial was a farce. They didn’t acquit OJ, their ‘not guilty’ verdict was a protest of years of abuse at the hands of the LAPD. He caught a lucky break. But his ex wife and her friend – The victims – were still very much dead and their deaths still not avenged.
Years later, OJ made a stupid mistake and went to rough up a man for sports memorabilia he says belonged to him. He had a gun. They threw the book at him and charged him with numerous felonies including armed robbery and kidnapping. He was sentenced to 33 years in prison. He ended up where should have been all those years ago.
To all the victims of PEV who watched the celebrations yesterday (at a rally I feel was as unnecessary as OJ’s victory bash) and were rightfully pained and felt…Wait, what? You dance on our graves? How about us? We are still raped. We are still bereaved. We are still haunted. We are still landless. We are still dead. We are STILL unavenged. To all you victims I say, malipo ni hapa hapa. Whichever man stood there celebrating with blood on his hands (maybe one of them, maybe two, perhaps all, who knows?) Tomorrow or years down the line, it will come to pass that they too, will pay for those deeds, albeit in a different way. Malipo ni hapa hapa.
Well, if she’s ready to walk that path, well and good. But we all know what happens to those who ‘rub powerful people’ the wrong way. Kama anajiskia na mambo ya kufuatwa na ‘unknown assailants’ every now and then, shauri yake.
However guilty a suspect might seem to the crowds, what matters in a court is the strength and legality of the evidence adduced and presented before the court, period!
“…had there been no incidence of interference or political meddling that tainted the process, and the chamber found that there were genuine weaknesses in the prosecution case, then the result, would ordinarily be an outright pronouncement of judgment of acquittal, with all the legal consequences that may rightly follow
such a pronouncement.”…Eboe Osuji
Karma is overrated. The truth of the matter is, even 50 years from now, the Ocampo six and their descendants will still be wealthier and more influential than the average Kenyan. What Ciku is waiting for is for one of them to get admitted to hospital, or lose a loved one, or encounter some kind of misfortune, so she can say “You see? What did I tell you? That’s the blood of the victims haunting them.” Which is crap coz misfortunes befall even people who’ve never hurt a fly.