corruption

Poetry

Sensational Sound Bytes: #protestpoem

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The political elite, The ones we elected after a mountain of promises were made, On those days when they spent hours on end on the campaign trail, Do you see how they laugh at us now?   Our lives, Mere sound bites for them, Another opportunity to sell their agenda on national television, Yet we keep giving them airtime.   We became footnotes, Forgotten, Our parents, living in fear, Threatened about how well they raised us, A barometer of whether we deserve to be abducted or not. A barometer for the guarantee of our safety and security.   We must end this impunity! Let’s make our voices count, Our ballots, our shield and defender! Come next election, Dawn will find us at the polling station!

Poetry

What lies!

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He told so many lies he forgot what the truth looked like, He sowed seeds of hope that he could not keep up with, He took away from the poor their last dime in the name of development, Then he vanished until the next elections.   Now we see him walking, He wants to be relatable, So, he left his range rover at the edge of the village.   He knocks on every door, Accepting the cup of tea offered with disdain, He is selling his manifesto again A humble servant of the people, He wants us to re-elect him, That he will finish tarmacking the old Nairobi Road. That the government hospital will finally get a new x-ray machine in his new term, That the new health insurance will finally cover the poor Eti afya yangu bima yangu.   He came with his usual bribe, A 50 bob here and there, A packet of unga, He left feeling accomplished, That a difference he had made.   We looked at him disappear, We now know his tactics, Tomorrow we will show up at the ballot box and vote for change, We are tired! And we finally realize that it has always been our decision to make!    

Poetry

Of The Things They Did

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This is a far out cry, Echoing through the mountains and valleys,  Of a people long held in captivity,  Of debt and misery,  Of the things generation to generation will tumble upon. This is a far out cry, To a leadership long gone with the winds,  Of selfishness and the betrayal of a people,  Of embezzlement of public funds for self gain,  As they build mansions and fly high

Poetry

We Ate Them Whole

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In our desperation, Or should I call it greed? To ascend to the helm of it all, We ate them whole, We ate what was to be their breakfast, lunch and their dinner, We guzzled the fuel that was to propel them to their destination, We ate of what was to be their children’s future; leaving them in abject poverty. We took out the bulldozers to bring down mother nature to feed our unending greed for animal skin, ivory and meat, nice jewelry, For tomorrow didn’t really count, We set the slaves free to “enjoy” what freedom had to offer, But behind the scenes we knew what awaited them as they sang those songs of freedom, So we smiled inwardly , See, We ate them whole, We embezzled their public funds, Took our children to Dubai for vacation After all the hard work in these international schools; work without play would make Jack and Jill dull kids, And their mum deserves it too, she has been serving the maendeleo ya wanawake diligently , I know this few millions clocking at a billion won’t bother anyone much, After all, even the bible says that when we ask it shall be given to us, So I asked myself, why not? I deserve this!!!!! And my family agreed that that was the best idea , Especially where their holiday and welfare was concerned . See, We ate them We ate them whole , We cleared the plate with even no leftovers, We made sure that even the meatless bones to their dogs they couldn’t feed, And now we watch their children grunt from this holocaust called hunger, As saliva drips the sides of their mouths at the mere sight of simple food like githeri , This doesn’t even give us goosebumps, Ain’t this the reason they elected us? We lead, They follow.

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