A few years ago, Hollywood actor Will Smith was on The Late Night Show with Stephen Colbert, where the host asked him his take on the increased racial tensions during the height of the Black Lives Matter Movement.
His response was simple, “Racism isn't getting worse, it's getting filmed.”
Smith’s observation is accurate and applies to different aspects of our lives, not just racism.
The connected world we live in today leaves traces of not just the digital footprint but our actual physical whereabouts.
Police can solve cases and trace the physical locations of persons by using CCTV cameras and Geo-tracking devices.
Video recordings of misdemeanours can cause people to lose their jobs. Even Beyoncé, Solange and Jay-Z were not safe from the cameras in an elevator!
With this being the case, I often wonder why people still do not think it wise to act appropriately in public.
Last week, twin brothers Eddie and Paul Ndichu were captured on video attacking two women and attempting to destroy a car.
The identical twins are not easily identifiable in the video but are easily distinguishable through their clothes.
The video went viral on social media and brought lasting consequences to the brothers.
The Ndichu brothers, as they are often called, became social-media famous when they both married well-known women in the country.
This would be the alleged basis of the whole debacle.
According to the victims, sisters Cheryl and Stephanie Murgor, one of the brothers tried to hit on one of the sisters, to which she responded, “Aren’t you the husband of Janet Mbugua?”
The sisters recounted their version of the events that unfolded that night through their lawyer and uncle Philip Murgor.
They said the two brothers and their female companion attacked them on their way out.
The Ndichu brothers have maintained silence and posted a vague press statement that did not give any details of the incident.
While we cannot be certain of the whole story and what transpired leading to the assault seen on video, what we can be sure of is what was captured was not favourable to the brothers’ side of the story.
They were caught on camera visibly assaulting women and breaking side mirrors.
The incident spurred the debate of gender-based violence and the notoriety of power.
In this case, the Ndichu brothers believed their connections and influence would have probably gotten them free.
However, they forgot to consider two things. First, in this day and age, the walls have eyes.
I am talking about surveillance footage, video recordings, gossip blogs and so on.
At the moment, they forgot that whoever was watching them could capture their short-lived wilding and share the video with the whole world.
Secondly, they overestimated their influence and connections. If at all they believed they could get away with their actions because of who they knew, they forgot to consider the other party and their relations.
In this case, the sisters’ connections outweighed theirs.
I doubt the Ndichu brothers would have imagined they would wake up the day after the incident and get served a civil suit from one of the country’s top lawyers and former public prosecutor.
Other than the civil suit, the brothers faced severe consequences for their actions as they were asked to step down from the tech company they co-founded.
Eddie was the CEO of Wapi Pay, while his twin brother Paul was the executive director. Eddie was also asked to step down as a board member of the Association of Fintechs in Kenya.
This serves as a reminder to all of us that if we do not behave well in public out of sheer modesty, then at least do it for those watching because in the digital era, Big Brother is always watching.