Why Scrambling for Spills Isn’t Always a Good Idea
I’ve been thinking lately, in midst of the tough economic times, free stuff is always tempting. I mean who wouldn’t want something that they’ve not worked for? But to what extent are we willing to go in order to get free stuff?
You know recently, my little sister who studies at the university gave me a call. I thought to myself ah she must be asking for ‘small’ money, “save a comrade”. I mean I could spare a hundred bob (Ksh), not a big deal, but that was not why she called.
Tell me why this girl starts laughing and asks me to guess what happened. She goes on talking about how they received “manna” from heaven. And I was confused. She then tells me that there had been an accident that occurred along the main road near the Campus, where two Lorries carrying foodstuff collided and overturned next to each other. One transported bottled juice and the other, loaves of bread.
Here’s the funny part. No one was saving the drivers that were involved in the accident. As usual, typical Kenyan style, everyone rushed to get as much as their hands could carry.
The commotion heightened as the area residents descended on the trucks and looted the food which caused a massive spill of goods attracting a crowd of onlookers and opportunistic individuals looking to grab free items. I heard that comrades (that’s what university students refer to themselves-in Kenya) were very happy because they had food stock that could last for up to 5 days.
This is not the first time something like that happened because there has been a similar case of a lorry transporting milk. I even heard that people washed their faces with milk that day.
While most of these incidents may be quite amusing to listen to, there are other gruesome ones that left great damages. Back in 2009, on a fateful Sunday morning, an oil tanker overturned at a black spot in a place called Sachangwan, Kenya.
As usual, the idea of getting free fuel consumed the bystanders and their greed turned into tragedy because the oil tanker burst into flames shortly after people began to siphon the fuel.
The explosion claimed more than one hundred lives, leaving scores to nurse severe injuries. But did people really learn their lesson? I guess not.
A similar incident happened in Kisumu, Kenya, ten years later in 2019, after the deadly fire tragedy at Sachangwan (2009) and its sad that the police had a hard time restricting residents who apparently demanded to be allowed to scoop the spilt fuel. They claimed to be denied their rights because according to them, they were not stealing anything.
This was literally playing with fire . Terrible right? Thank God no one got injured from that because the police contained the situation. I mean we are a second away from death, and life could flash before our eyes. But do we listen.
Desperation and tough times are to blame for these scenarios in my opinion. However, not everything is for free, some come at a cost; Life for example.
Moving forward, I hope these tragedies awaken not only Kenyans but the rest of Africa and the world at large.
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