Action matters

Action matters 

By Yvonne Otieno

  

“Police rescues an alleged thief from the hands of angry residents” or “mob justice for an alleged thief in ‘X’ university”

These headlines have been common in Kenyan newspapers that people have become used to them that they do not bother to read the story behind them, eave alone the follow up on the cases.

Everybody deserves punishment for the wrongs they do. Before you through a stone to that thief, do you ever stop to imagine how the situation could have been if the thief could be your relative of a boyfriend/girlfriend?

Last week I watched an alleged thief being beaten and to be sincere, it was not worth watching. As the ladies were busy shouting “muue” (kill him), the men were busy doing as per the ladies requests.

It is important to know that the thief caught always has the first hand information hence evidence. If you kill the thief, it means justice will not be provided hence the problem will not be solved if it was a group thing, for example. 

Before you throw a stone to that thief, remember the pain his/her mother went through before finally delivering him/her. 

I am not trying to promote stealing, but rather to advocate for the write form of correction. Prisons are meant for criminals for correction. This means that if we take these matters in our hands and kill the thieves, then the prisons will be empty. Yes, empty. 

It is also important to note that no one is guilty of an offense unless proven guilty. This means that the person you beat is not a thief but a suspect. What if it turns out that you beat the wrong person. My point here is that you should not be quick to judge.