For some reason on this visit to Kenya I keep getting reminded about how seriously people view stealing here. I was only here two days when I witnessed, first hand, 'mob justice' delivered to a man who had broken into the hotel I was staying in and who had taken about 500 schillings (5 euros). The man was almost killed.
I have spoken to many people here about the incident (including friends and people I deeply trust) and without exception people here saw nothing wrong with how the man was punished for what he did. If they had been in the vicinity when the man had been caught they would have joined in with everyone else.
This was shockingly brought home to me yesterday when somebody was caught stealing some equipment from the hub.
The thief was chased, caught, dragged into the workshop and then beaten.
Thankfully, the manager of the hub intervened and everybody calmed down.
I did not witness this and only found about it a few hours later when the senior people on the hub were deciding what to do next. They asked me to speak with the thief.
The tragedy was that I knew the young man who had stolen the graphics card and some RAM. I had spoken to him many times before and was always impressed with his enthusiasm for the technology and the speed with which he was learning. He is a young father and it appears he had a little business on the side repairing computers using parts that he stole from the hub.
In a twisted irony, we are of course trying to encourage entrepeneurial activity via the trainees but obviously using legal means!
I spoke with the young man at length and tried to encourage him to tell me the whole truth and nothing but the truth. It seems that a full confession from him would avoid him having to go to the police station where a full confession would be 'extracted'.
Whatever about getting a full confession, he did confess to stealing and that meant he was not obligated to go to the police station. Lucky guy.
I then spoke to the senior people in the hub and listened to their side of the story. Apparently the man was under suspicion for some time and they were just waiting for an opportunity to catch him red handed. They wanted to ban him from ever coming back to the hub.
The consequences of this decision for the young man are disastrous. He is truly somebody who could benefit from what the hub offers....
What do you do in a situation like this? There is no doubt that the man is guilty of stealing but he was doing so in order that he could support himself and his family whilst he was training in the hub. That said, if everyone chose this means to support themselves the hub would have no resources!
In addition, is it right to challenge the cultural idea that severe punishment for even the most minor of stealing offences is justified?
I have taken the view, for good or for ill, that this perspective needs to be challenged. We have arranged a meeting of all the senior management and volunteers to discuss the issue this evening.
For me the punishment should never be worse than the crime but human nature often demands this. Also a punishment should include a mechanism for redemption. There should be a way for a person to redeem themselves of their wrong doing.
My suggestion here is to insist on the 'thief' returning everything he has stolen before he can be considered for re-entry into the hub. Along with this there should be a suspension period.
Is this being too idealistic?
No comments:
Post a Comment