Policemen and women no longer arrest people to keep law and order Photo: Courtesy Kenyans long gave up on their police force. The first line of defence for a Kenyan caught by the long arm of the law is to always find how much loose change he has to spare, followed by an attempt to sweet talk the arresting coppers. And police have lately become more ruthless in collecting bribes and fines - whose cost has gone up apparently in line with runaway inflation. It breaks my heart that 52 years after the Union Jack was lowered at Uhuru Gardens, our police force is still run in the same way the vexatious imperialists run Kenya as a colony. Much of the thinking that governs the police was inherited from the British. Not walking around with your national ID is potentially a crime, even if you speak English, Swahili, sheng and one native language. Repressive Kanu days and the persistently low salaries have helped perpetuate a culture of bribery to augment police salaries that hardly support their large families. I will be lying if I said there aren’t good cops who do an honest day’s job. See also: Why you and I are both idiots, but can do better But they are few and far between. The rest mostly think alike: “Let’s go out and arrest a few young men and women and have them buy their way out.” The reason there are more arrests on Fridays than any other day of the week is because of the fact that courts are not open on weekends and anyone would pay anything to stay out of the fetid police cells teeming with creepy crooks. Policemen and women no longer arrest people to keep law and order.