The news arrives with the usual blend of horror and weary predictability. Eight students, mere children in the eyes of the law, have been arrested in Kenya for a deadly arson attack. The details are grim: lives lost, property destroyed, and a nation left to wonder how its youth descended into such barbarism.
But let us not pretend this is a uniquely Kenyan problem. This is a symptom of a broader collapse of authority, a rot that has set in across the Commonwealth and beyond. The calls for British Commonwealth policing standards are a start, but they miss the point.
Policing is a symptom of order, not its cause. The cause is a culture that has abandoned discipline, respect, and the very concept of consequences. We have infantilised our youth, excused their transgressions with psychobabble, and then act surprised when they burn down dormitories.
The Victorians understood that without the birch, without the stern hand of the master, the mob rules. Kenya, like Britain, has forgotten this. The arsonists are not just criminals; they are the logical endpoint of a society that refuses to say 'no'.
Until we re-embrace the uncomfortable virtues of authority and accountability, the fires will keep coming.
