Value of a life

 All life is sacred and precious. At least that is the mantra we all chant. But what value do we place on a life. Is some life of less value than others? Does your stand in society somewhat increase the worth place on your being alive as compared to other "lesser beings".
 I raise this questions, knowing full well that that death is an emotive and taboo subject in Kenya and Africa by extension. I think we sometimes must tackle the unpleasant issues inorder to improve who we are as Kenyans and overall as human beings.
 Last week a prominent kenya athelete fell off his home balcony and ended up dead. There has much hue and cry about the senseless loss of a young life. It made me proud to be Kenyan to relaize that we can put our tribal affiliations aside for a moment and mourn the loss of a Kenyan great.
 My faith in the humanity of Kenyans was however, short lived. It was shatterd yesterday by two independent incidents but that bore striking similarity. Our public transport system is  dominated by privatly owned vans callled Matatus. This are often driven and managed by poorly trained individuals whose only motivation and driving force in life is the next shilling they can make all other human compassion takes a back seat.
 Yesterday, a matatu  ahead of the one I was in, hit another car. The driver had to swerve to avoid hitting a pedestrian that had suddenly jumped into the street. Probably out of fear or shock, the tout in that matatu jumped out and came into the vehicle I was in. When he finally caught his breath he explained how stupid he thought the driver must have been. He exclaimed how it was much better to hit a pedestrian and drive off rather than be involved in an accident with another vehicle. He explained how the rest of the morning would be spent in the policestation. It would have been better to be a hit and run accident!! To him the one life, was an acceptable loss in the business of making money. I will give you a minute to digest that thought.
 My collegue lives along Thika road. The matatu he was in was flagged down by police along the way, (I must explian here that often the Kenyan police and especially so the traffic police are know to extort bribes from drivers for the mos flimsy of reasons. A cracked windscreen can be a traffic offence if the officer so decides.)
 Back to my story. The driver knowing all to well what the police might want defied the order to stop. He instead, with moral support from the the tout, drove off at a high speed. What followed was a high speed chase with the driver engaging in all sorts of traffic violations. In the process he endangered the life of all his passengers. All this time the tout was cheering him on urging him to drive against on coming traffic or drive on the pavement. It was no surpraise when he hit a padestrian walking on the sidewalk. Not even this was enought to prompt him to stop. Not even the screeming passengers would change his mind. Thank God, eventually he hit  huge hole and ended up witha double puncture. Only then did he stop and was then arrested. No one is sure of the fate of the pedestrian that was hit.
 With those two episodes in mind I want to ask: what s the value of a Kenyans' life? Are some lives more vauable than others? And most important, Who makes the call of which life is worth less than the other?
 Think about it.