BONYO'S BONE: Onesimus, we are not safe

Meanwhile, the Interior CS Onesimus Kipchumba Murkomen continues to speak in the language of plans, strategies, and projections, the “what” and the “how.”

Kenyans are living the reality of fear in real time, every single day.

As we inch closer to the next general election, insecurity is becoming impossible to ignore.

WhatsApp groups have turned into early-warning systems. News headlines read like security bulletins. Conversations everywhere begin with caution.

Yet the response from those in charge suggests exaggeration, as if these fears are manufactured and the danger is imagined.

This, from a ministry that only recently traversed the country under the banner of Jukwaa la Usalama, collecting views and promising action. If that exercise meant anything, Kenyans now deserve accountability, not dismissal and blame games.

It cannot be business as usual that even in spaces where Kenyans are expected to freely associate and exercise their fundamental rights are now high risk. Attending a political rally today qualifies as an extreme sport. As an attendee, you are either facing law enforcers or goons, either way you are at risk.

What we are witnessing, whether by design or neglect, resembles the choreography of organized violence, calculated, coordinated, and brazen.

A script that belongs in crime syndicates out of Sinaloa in Mexico and not in a constitutional democracy like Kenya.

We cannot pretend that the 2027 campaigns are not in top gear already. Whether prematurely or otherwise is another issue altogether. But alongside the slogans and convoys, the goons too are campaigning, and they are winning ground.

Responsibility for security is neither abstract nor shared, it sits squarely within the chain of command charged with protecting citizens, the National Police Service, but they seem to be looking the other side, shyly too when it matters.

Kenyans deserve to live in peace and to exercise their political rights without fear. Anarchy disguised as political competition cannot become our new normal.

It does not matter what slogan is fashionable: Linda Mwananchi, Linda Ground, Linda Kura, or whichever linda pleases you.

What we need now, and urgently so, is simple: Linda nchi.

Protect our cities, towns, streets, and neighborhoods. Protect the democratic space that allows citizens to choose their leaders freely.

Blame cannot keep shifting. Responsibility lies somewhere, and those entrusted with security must own it.

That is my bone tonight.