Stories from home

In my village, the dead are revered. If you attended a funeral, even of the village thief, you would think you attended the wrong funeral. Speaker after speaker will tell you how good the late fellow was. I think even his victims would praise his generosity. I don’t know about you, but I have no such allegiance to the dead. I like to call a spade a big spoon and a big spoon a spade.

The dust has now settled on the grave of the late Lucy Kibaki. All the media reports I read after her demise were all glowing in tributes to her. For a moment I thought I was reading about a different person. I am not disagreeing with those who say she was a good grandmother, not at all. I only question a nation that seem to have lost its conscience.

If there is anything I recall about her are tantrums about the first family composition, disagreements with members of her husband’s cabinet or the several allegations of who she slapped here or there. I wish her family well.

Last weekend a man, Jacob Juma, was laid to rest at his home in western Kenya. His death is still clouded in mystery. No one knows who killed him though he had in many occasions named some high ups who wanted to dispatch him to the world of the dead. I hope they are found out. I am disappointed that the press could only refer to him as controversial businessman. This reference is to make the business of covering up the murder an easier task. Anyone with an agenda can easily claim it was a business deal gone bad.

Yesterday the police displayed their brutality on demonstrators. A little background, the constitution grants citizens the right to picket. I think the police didn’t read the document or don’t know of its existence. I am not ruling this out. Sadly a fellow has succumbed to the injuries. What his death has revealed is how divided, along tribal lines, the country is. When all there was to go by was a picture of a cop crushing his head on the ground, a section of the populace felt it served him right. Now that we have name, things are a bit different.

And the pastors are silent. They are silent when money is lost through sleaze. They are silent when the powers that be appoint people based on their surnames instead of merit. They are silent every time you expect them to speak, as Hosea, spoke. No, they can’t stand atheism. That is the biggest affront to the nation that they can’t stand.

As a prophet of the golden boot, I think things will get only worse. There will be more violence. The police, a group that isn’t known for their intelligence, will kill or maim more people and at the end, we will have the same crooks in places of influence.

Have a pleasant week everyone.