Every Goon For Himself…

Parents, that entry they make on your son/daughter’s school fee, the one named ‘security’, it’s not for his/her security. Do not be fooled. It is to secure school property. Nobody cares about your son’s personal safety- much less, not the administration. When you arrived with your daughter on the reporting day, they assured you that she will not have to worry. They lied.

On Sunday last week, I had a little run-in with the dregs of the night. It was a little past 10.30pm when I alighted at the stage leading up to my campus’ gate when three silhouettes emerged from the pitch darkness. I didn’t need anyone to put up a banner to realize that these people didn’t just appear from nowhere to offer me a cup of tea. A few steps ahead, I heard running footsteps behind me. That was my cue to run, and I didn’t for a second stop to look behind until I got to that gate.

That particular spot has become notorious for the muggers lurking around, hungrily searching for a lone student to take advantage of. That night they landed on one with quicker feet, but others have not been so lucky. Three sorry incidences come to mind- there is a friend who parted with his laptop, and another who was caught at knife-point and had to give away his Ksh 2000. In campus when someone robs you of such an amount, he has ruined you. That is your food money, raving money, shaving money, shopping money etc. others who have been attacked at that point have lost phones, handbags and for the ladies, their make-up kits.

Even after all these incidences, the administration still won’t beef up security at that junction. Furthermore, the insecurity has found its way into the hostels. Cases of petty thievery by outsiders still pop their heads once in a while. The worst happened a few weeks ago when some guy apparently went into the ladies’ bathroom, stark naked, wagging his unmentionables, and followed some lassie to the bathroom. She shrieked for help, but security came to help ten minutes later.

Such cases are not only peculiar to my campus. It’s widespread. Insecurity in and around campus halls is like a flu that was sneezed into all universities. What we do not know for sure is which one caught the first bout of cold. Could it be UoN, when Mercy Keino was killed after chudexing (allegedly) that legislator? Or was it USIU whose lady student was kidnapped and then resurfaced a couple of weeks later dead cold? We could also say it was Maseno University- where the murder of a student at the hostel gates caused an insurrection by the students.

These are just but a snapshot into the true nature of security in campuses today. Yet all these drift away into memories and quickly become fables.

But if you broke a window pane, just one, the admin will issue a fatwa on your head. They will balance a hefty bounty on your head. Wanted, dead or alive. They won’t rest until they have you head on a plate, or a new window pane- and they will be more than glad to add that to your school fee for the next year. And that’s just with a window pane.

It really is interesting to know where the school administration’s priorities actually lie.

The moral here is when attacked, forget about any help from campus security. Those are just mannequins to justify a detail in your school fee. At that particular point in time, drop the goon act. Don’t be a hero- heroes are only remembered during their burial and national holidays. It is every goon for himself, and God for us all. Use your two good legs and make a run for it. Run, baby, run!