#ILLICIT BREWS
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his past
week; Kenya’s drunken decadence was put on the spotlight for the world to see. How
mind- boggling it was to see some 70 adults killed within 24 hours and each day
the number rose. They voluntarily administered upon themselves a lethal
intoxicant-the Countryman Liquor as it was dubbed; that ended up sending
to the graves the many countrymen.
What a
disgusting heavy blanket of de ja vu it was. Scenes of many wallowing and writhing in pain
in battered hospital beds, some gone permanently blind and families left in a suffocating
disaster. It is simply pathetic and disgusting.
But was this
a new incidence secluded on its own? No, and a big no for that matter. Not at
all. We have seen it before. It happened six years ago- so it is nothing new. They
say we are a peculiar people who are so fast to forget. But I say we do not
forget. The graves stand in the witness stand boldly to deny us and argument
and for everyone to see. So, too are those who went blind in the previous orgy.
I laughed at
the Senior Government people who came out breathing fire and brimstones. They were
angry and made sure their press conferences captured that. They stood to ask
what their juniors were doing when these adults freely introduced killer
substances into their bodies. I laughed because such is the tragedy of a nation
in the grip of clueless leaders who address symptoms when they should be
getting to the heart of the matter.
We have become
a country that fails to ask the right questions. What drives a mature family and
country men and women to the extremes of voluntarily rolling in lethal drinks;
knowing very well they are lethal?
Watching the
TV; one thing you could not fail to notice from the footage was the victims’
tumble down environment. We saw of their subhuman living conditions in the
slum- villages.
They exist
in the extremes of poverty and social exclusion; on the fringes of society. With
nothing to live for; or even die for- these people gave up on life ages ago.
Let me tell
you the harsh truth- when a country man has nothing to live for let alone die
for; he is a zombie- a waking walking dead.
By Embukane Vincent
Libosso-as inspired by Mr. Barrack Muluka.
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