The tragic news of the death of seven pupils of Precious Talent School along Ngong road is saddening, at the same time awakening.
The deaths robbed the parents a chance to see the fruits of their labour come to fruition, and one can only offer them messages of condolences.
But are condolences enough? No. We need action as a nation, to check into what went wrong and how it can be rectified, with all those responsible for this heinous abdication of duty duly punished as per the rules of the land.
However, the saddening thing is that we will wait until another tragedy strikes before we complain, leaders issue strong press statements and then everything goes back to normal until the next tragedy.
People will be sacked, as Nairobi County Governor Mike Mbuvi has already done to the director of planning. He was however quick to pass the buck to the previous county government that has seen quite a number of buildings declared unfit for human habitation across the city.
Looking closely, everything boils down to integrity. People are today worshipping a devil known as money, often exchanged in the form of bribes and what-not, whereby the recipients knowingly endanger the lives of Kenyans.
It bothers that people who are mandated to guard Kenyans against malicious individuals are the very ones with diabolic intents. Lives are lost as a result of incompetent people, and nothing happens.
The death and injury of the Precious Talent School pupils should be the last we hear of such tragedies. It should awaken us to take actions before another one strikes, throwing us into the usual cycle – press releases from leaders, a few sackings and then everything goes back to normal as we await the next tragedy.
Kenyans should be proactive, not reactive, and ensure that everyone is safe wherever they are. Rules should be followed to the latter, and bodies charged with enforcing them should exercise integrity to the highest degree. PP