Benson, a student at Kisiwa technical institute and Eric a
driver of a local construction company met at Chwele Market, decided to unwind,
after hard day’s work, with a drink at Land
Matope, a squalid slum settlement nearby, infamous for cheap liquor and
sex, on demand. According to an eye witness, a deafening scream went out,
before they could take a sip of the coveted drink. The ground just shook and
perhaps shifted under their feet when an irate mob rushed into the dingy ‘bar’
with all guns blazing, cursing and swearing. They shoved them out, and then
descended on them with blows and kicks. Not sure what they had done wrong, I
imagine they tried to get an explanation, begged for mercy, asked to be told
who their accuser is and what their crimes might be but the blood thirsty crowd
did not allow them that luxury: they were doused in petrol then set ablaze,
creating a little hell here on earth.
To this mob, well rehearsed in the craft of murder, Ben and
Eric were guilty (before being tried) of the most heinous of crimes deserving
death in the most brutal of ways. What was their evidence against the two?
Apparently, a sorcerer from Uganda, with quite a reputation of delivering justice,
his way, fast and furious, he would make Police work seem like child play. The
Ugandan witch had promised to use his magic to draw two suspicious looking young
men, on a hot afternoon to Land Matope asking for the bottle. What I don’t understand
is why he didn't explain, how the young men would look like and what kind of apparels
they would be putting on that day.
Presumably the man
was on the look out like a cat snuffing for a rat, combing the length and
breadth of the area for any two young men that looked suspicious and maybe
guilty enough. The two unfortunate ones happened to be Erick and Benson. The
lads I have known and been good friends with for more than ten years. Benson, a
very nice young man, a little bit shy and short of words, he always had a smile
on his handsome face. I swear he could never hurt even a fly; the only negative
thing (not negative to most) I know about him: his love for the bottle.
Eric can be anything
but a robber. He was a focused and very industrious; I used to enjoy his well
baked Mandazi and stories after church. I didn’t mind that at times the stories
were made, based on pure fantasy, they prepared me for the long walk home in
searing heat. Daniel Simiyu, who was my Sunday school teacher at some stage, was
the best examples of hard work to earn a living.He tirelessly reminded us to
break sweat for whatever we wanted to have in life.’ The hardest path is always
the best path’, he advised, his words did not fall on deaf ears, as Eric daily
demonstrated.
Come to think of it, that they were executed without being
heard, without trial, makes me sick to the pits of my stomach. That the two
were thought to be part of the gang that has been terrorizing residents of
Bungoma County, is simply not acceptable. Just thinking of horrors of being
lynched, hungry flames licking your blood, bones and flesh: What the two
underwent drains blood from my face.
The question I keep asking myself is: what fuels this blood
lust? I still don’t know the answer to this question. I understand some people
still don’t have enough faith in the police’s ability to do their work
adequately but that doesn't justify such acts of criminality. Not in the least.
To do that is to justify the unjustifiable, to excuse the inexcusable .This is
criminality, pure and simple and that’s how it should be called. The
perpetrators shouldn't and mustn't go unpunished. They should be identified and
be brought to justice. That will go along way in assuaging the grief of the
bereaved. It will bring some sort of closure to these families.
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