EDITORIAL: Rein in thugs before the country collapses

The warning signs are glaring and impossible to ignore. We are witnessing a disturbing deterioration in law and order, with politically instigated violence increasingly overshadowing the authority of the police. Images of organised gangs attacking citizens and destroying property in broad daylight have become alarmingly familiar.

Such cases, coupled with persistent reports of muggings, burglaries, shootings and murders, have deepened public anxiety and raised legitimate questions about the ability and capacity of government to guarantee security.

At the heart of the chaos is the sad, but disturbing truth that police officers have become minions of our feckless politicians. Many Kenyans believe the police respond with greater urgency when political interests are at stake than when ordinary citizens require protection.

Whether entirely justified or not, that perception is corrosive. Public confidence in law enforcement depends on the certainty that the law will be applied impartially.

No society can thrive when criminals appear emboldened and law-abiding citizens feel increasingly exposed. Kenya urgently needs a root-and-branch overhaul of its policing and criminal justice institutions, restoring professionalism, operational independence, accountability and public trust.

Politicians must stop treating violence as a convenient instrument of competition, while security agencies must reclaim their constitutional duty without waiting for partisan instructions.

History offers sobering lessons. When states surrender the monopoly of lawful force, criminal networks inevitably fill the vacuum.

Unless reforms are carried out now, Kenya risks drifting towards the kind of institutional breakdown that has crippled countries such as Haiti, where the state's authority has been gravely undermined by armed gangs.

That is not our destiny, but avoiding it calls for courage, leadership and a total commitment to the rule of law.

Quote of the Day: “The world perishes not from bandits and fires, but from hatred, hostility, and all these petty squabbles.” —Russian author and playwright Anton Chekhov died on July 15, 1904