Bringing down the wall of Lang'ata and the rise of a great urban legend

A section of activists at Langata Road Primary school, Nairobi took to the streets to demonstrate over a private land developer who they claim had grabbed a section of the school’s land. PHOTO DAVID NJAAGA

NAIROBI: Since that wall of Lang’ata Road Primary School came tumbling down, rising overnight to become a revered signpost, I have been reflecting on the wall from a philosophical standpoint.

It was, after all, erected by lucid men, armed with a permit from our City fathers, the folks who are otherwise too busy to collect garbage and other pressing tasks, the papers stamped in the right places, giving them the right to commit wrong on others.

This week, the City Governor Evans Kidero, wearing that wistful look, a slight tilt of the head and a dimming of the eyes, said the men in question presented what appeared to be genuine papers to City Hall.

Now, Dr Kidero knows looks can be deceiving, for the papers in question were a neat work of fraud, although that did not prevent the wall from going up – just high enough to shield the eyes of the distinguished guests at a nearby hotel from the malformed, malnourished bodies of young ones on the playground.

INSANE ACTS

Now, I have been seeking to understand what would compel presumably sane men to commit such insane acts as claiming ownership of a public land of such importance to so many little ones, hive it off and go home to their wives and children and feel nothing.

By nothing, of course, I don’t mean having any moral compunction — such people would be beyond such emotions — but just to experience a little guilt from the inner voice that would be whispering: I am a thief, I am a thief...

National Lands Commission Chairman Muhammad Swazuri, having spent the past year feuding with his minister, which must be part of his job description, offered what sounded like a pretty intelligent analysis, getting into the mind of a land-grabber.

ANOTHER FACE

He said such people are often allergic to open public spaces; they feel itchy at the sight of such lands and start plotting how to utilise them.

Having offered such deep insights into a land-grabber, I suspected when Internal Security boss Joseph ole Nkaissery bossed around and spelt his ultimatum to his Lands counterpart, Madam Charity, to name the grabber for further action, I thought the latter would provide a name, as we say, with the ease of gulping a cup of water, by further developing the wisdom provided by Dr Swazuri.

Instead, Madam Charity responded with guarded contemplation: behind the face, is another face...

Now, now, that’s quite revealing, the recognition that we are not dealing with an ordinary mortal but a hydra-faced monster with multiple faces.

Nonetheless, in her characteristic stride, Madam Charity promised she would do her best to unmask the strange creature gobbling public lands in our midst and communicate the same to Kenyans, even as Mr Nkaissery ordered the same ogre to return to the scene of crime and carry its building blocks.

Hence my surprise when the National Youth Service folks arrived to mop up the blocks that had separated the famished youngsters and the rich patrons from the nearby hotel, throwing the arena wide open.

No doubt, for generations to come, the children of Lang’ata will tell their children of their venerated wall of how they defeated a hydra-faced grabber who, while unknown, has been outed in a manner he will stink like a skunk, whenever he goes, for a long time to come.