Like a blank page,
Untampered with,
Unwritten on,
Clear as crystal,
Yet hazy as a psychic’s prediction,
Like a gift waiting to be unwrapped,
But peeling itself away each second,
Mirage of Togetherness
Heavy in the chest a heart races
Disobeying the force of will a pair of eyes pursue
Bend after hairpin bend a hunt ensues
The one loses the other before either ever belongs
Why President Kenyatta’s Politics Threaten Kenya’s Democracy
President Kenyatta has systematically hijacked the fruits of the second liberation that, having been delayed during KANU’s stint at the helm between 1992 and 2002, had begun ripening under NARC and later the Coalition government.
For one, Kenyatta obliterated the opposition in the guise of uniting the country through the handshake. Moreover, the president sought to discredit the fourth estate by mocking, demeaning, and attacking the media using words such as “Gazeti ni ya kufunga nyama.” Additionally, the government eroded the right to peacefully demonstrate by countering peaceful protests with teargas and beatings. Then, using cabinet secretaries and other executive officials sycophantically loyal to him, the head of state weakened the other arms of government—the judiciary was brought to its knees through a reduced budget while the legislature went to the dogs when the sinister pact between the president and Raila Odinga gave the former unfathomable power to unleash severe punishment towards the law makers who dared stand up to his ridiculous stances.
Why President Kenyatta Has No Moral Authority to Tell Kenyans Who to Elect
Wasn’t it Uhuru Kenyatta that framed Raila Odinga as a power-hungry monster who was behind his and William Ruto’s woes at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2012/2013? Didn’t he angrily brand the former premier a Kîmûdû and use a host of other unmentionable diatribes on him? Wasn’t he the one that promised a twenty-year reign of Jubilee divided between himself and William Ruto with the words, Wangoje yangu kumi na ya William kumi? Didn’t he mock the opposition with Endeleeni kumeza mate na sisi tuendelee kula nyama? Didn’t he stand side by side with William Ruto as the latter lied through his teeth about the nine stadia?
Miguna Miguna’s Right to Return Home Should not be Confused with his Ability to Lead
A man as careless in speech as Miguna Miguna; one who has as little patience to listen to others as he demonstrated on multiple platforms including Jeff Koinange Live in 2016/17; one who does more to discredit competitors than he does to sell his policies as he did while campaigning to be the Governor of Nairobi; one who raises his voice in insult, especially to a woman; such a man is unfit to be a leader.
A Battle of and for the Soul: Science and Religion in Yaa Gyasi’s Transcendent Kingdom
In the abounding opioid epidemic in the United States, Transcendent Kingdom could not be timelier. Apart from being useful in the face of such a current calamity, the novel cements itself as timeless – Anyone interested in life’s ever-present complexities has much to benefit from this book. It is the ideal companion as one struggles to make sense of suffering when one is handed the bitter chalice.
The Drink of Death?
My mind flew to my car’s co-driver seat where four beastly creatures and a fifth monstrous one stared angrily at me. Growling, they looked ready to pounce as I opened the driver’s door.
A Rainbow in the Night: The Tumultuous Birth of South Africa by Dominique Lapierre, A Review
With vivid descriptions and transitions that tie the numerous strands of the story neatly into one masterpiece, the author’s wealth of research is magnificently displayed bringing to life historical facts in an easy, fun to read manner. Feigning an irreproachable presumptuous Christianity, Lapierre quotes scripture in an apparently innocent manner that delivers punches of mockery to ignorant egocentric adherence to scripture. Anyone seeking to get a glimpse into apartheid—its origins, workings, and eventual collapse—should consider reading A Rainbow in the Night. The book is also good for history students, world leaders in general and African ones in particular, human rights activists as well as politicians.
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah, A Review
Tragic. This word seems inadequate to capture the immense suffering that Ishmael Beah and other Sierra Leonians go through during political upheavals in the country. At the tender age of twelve, Beah is separated with his close-knit family, witnesses the torching of homes, obliteration of people’s lives and livelihoods and the gruesome murder of human beings. He also comes to multiple close encounters with death as he flees the war and is eventually recruited as a boy soldier. Brainwashed and vengeful, the teen ends up killing and maiming multiple people before he is finally rehabilitated. In A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, Beah narrates his experience under the 1991-2001 civil war that left over 50,000 dead.
Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers, A Review
Artistically written and peppered with epigraphs from the bible and classic texts, Redeeming Love is a work of art like no other. Among other literary devices, Francine Rivers’ use of dialogue makes the text come alive almost in conversation with the reader. Characters converse among themselves and within themselves. But they even go further. They hear both malevolent and benevolent forces urging them on or discouraging them from various actions in their dealing with each other and their conduct towards themselves. Even the great I AM’s still small voice is present in the characters’ everyday lives. Characters seek the voice of God and respond to the urgings of these forces both by word and deed.
The Caged Bird Sings 