By Wafula Buke
Attention! Hon Ng’eno, Murkomen, Sudi etc. “Arrest me!” Is an appeal from actors without a cause. Its those who are free who are principal shapers of history. Check!
1. Mandela never pleaded to be arrested. Instead he did everything in the encyclopedia of safety to survive arrest and command omkhonto we sizwe. Mandela is an icon becoz Oliver Tambo, Chris Hai Joe Slovo evaded arrest and engaged the enemy. Why do you want to be arrested?
2. The boat almost capsized with Raila Odinga as he tried to escape and get a vantage point to contribute to the struggle. Is it mileage you are looking for?
3. Surrounded by the Amin Dada soldiers, comrade Joel Museveni did not wait to be arrested. He ran out shooting in the air. His two comrades were arrested and killed instead. What change do you want to bring by lodging in our cells?
4. The Cuban freedom struggle was fought by free men and women while those in prison “prayed” for them.
5. Have you forgotten that the 2nd president of our republic His Excellency Hezekiah Ochuka never pleaded to be arrested but instead took off to TZ? I can tell you are taking kalenjins for a ride.
6. For your information, the arrest of Dedan Kimaathi put the liberation army in disarray. That is how new actors took center stage to give us neocolonial independence. How we must wish kimaathi had gone to London for constitutional talks Kenyatta would be a poor man running a bar in kiambu.
7. 1986. Mwakenya’s Kangethe Mungai jumped of the flyover in Gil Gil to avoid arrest so that they could continue derailing trains. He broke his hand, got arrested and that is how acts of sabotage as a liberation program ended.
8. I know why you desperately want to be arrested. Arrest under the current constitution is romantic. Guaranteed public outcry, comfortable cells, enough food, available lawyers, free media coverage and of course “YOU HAVE NO CAUSE”
