By Silas Nyanchwani
Chris Kirubi is 77 years-old. Over 70 you are bound to die of any ailment. We all die of some cause. You can be killed by cancer even when you are not corrupt.
I can understand the overt schadenfreude in many people after a photo of a dishevelled Kirubi surfaced. His chubby cheeks are gone, his conniving smile disappearing.
It is easy to condemn Kirubi for the many alleged corruption scandals, selling Uchumi shares with insider information, overseeing the collapse of KENATCO and other heists. But most of you, if served with similar cards would have done exactly what Kirubi did. Not to excuse him if at all he did that.
Here is the thing, our justice system is so crappy, a rich person has no reason to worry absolutely about killing, stealing and all. He can buy the entire judiciary and his community will come out to defend him or her and better still, make her a governor.
That is why for a pretentiously religious Kenya, many pray for national justice to pay for the poor who often suffer the brunt of the greed of people like Kirubi.
But natural justice is not fair. Moi is still around. Mugabe is still around and Museveni will still run for presidency in 2069. Those who ordered the killing of Msando still pray in church and all.
For me I sympathise with the likes of Kirubi. By no means justifying my poverty, but crass materialism and excessive capitalist impulse have never been my thing. King Solomon saw all these bullshit. It is all vanity. You can steal, loot, sleep with a million women, but life is so short, before you know it, you are out of power, out of life and dying in Morocco like Mobutu.
Many rich people in Africa have no cognitive ability to think and worry about their legacy. They obtained their wealth fraudulently so, no incentive to think about future generations.
Their very actions endanger the life of so many people including their progeny and you wonder why they try so hard to make so much for the kids.
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