hague

If the general elections, world cups, a Harambee stars match or even the annual safari seasons ever caused ripples in the nation, then the ICC trials surpasses them all. Since the first time the suspects appeared before the pretrial chamber, to the confirmation hearings, events, strategies and alliances have all been made with the Hague process as reference. That the suspects secured hot shot attorneys, the media hype surrounding have all thrown the rugby world cup out of ranks as the first choice.

Politicians, pollsters and even armchair analysts have all come up with theories as regards to who the biggest losers and winners are going to be bearing in mind that two leading presidential candidates whose worth cannot be wished away are involved and the two have made the possibility of inclusion of a third a not so distant reality.

That the bungled generation elections of 2007 was the straw that broke the camel’s back or that the violence broke out along tribal lines is a fact that few can try to oppose. The six co accused have all been very vehement in their denials and any court of public opinion would be unfair not to believe them. However, whist the six are Kenyans or that the first three were Kalenjin should not be read as a charge against any of the aforementioned groups.

The charges are against the six and any attempt to drag public emotion should be treated with the contempt that they deserve .the clergy have also not left behind in this craze as they momentarily remove their gabardines and participate in the debate based on their ethnic or political affiliation which a time are highly synonymous.

It’s a high time we realized that the nation is greater than any individual and rise above narrow segments to defend the good name of our republic, the feeling that we get after one, two, three sweep in the three thousand steeplechase or for the pride of having a Kenyan revolutionize mobile banking through innovations such as the MPESA.

Natural justice has to be seen to be done as opposed to sectarian baying of blood, evaluation of all root causes of the post election violence skirmishes as opposed to laying off some few people at the altar of sacrifice. whichever way the proceedings go, politicians are always going to do what they do best-say what they need to get what they need and our nation will always remain .long live Kenya.

How could a guy ever get this lucky?

You aint beautiful; you are picturesque

Your smile isn’t lovely; it’s angelic

Your figure aint great; it’s magical

You aren’t a smart dresser u are voguish

How could a guy ever get this lucky?

Words from your mouth are sweet and tender

Warm and just meant for my eyes

You look at me in an earnest way; a way only you do

A way that makes me feel treasured

How could a guy ever get this lucky?

Your teeth meticulously arranged in your buccal cavity

White enough to light a dark room

Your bust so robust and full of life

Protruding from your upper attire like two ridges facing each other

How could a guy ever get this lucky?

Soft sweet lips; supple and glistening from the lip gloss

Face; smooth and rotund

These make-ups it seems were made just for you

But they aren’t what makes you sparkle; they just punctuate you

How could a guy ever get this lucky?

You don’t have to open your mouth to speak

You don’t have to write it down either

Or even to put it in pictures

Just by being there, I can see it in your eyes

How could a guy ever get this lucky?

I dint choose you

I dint venture out to find you

How do you look for what you don’t know exist?

We met not by chance either; but to write the greatest love story ever

How could a guy ever get this lucky?

I have never been so in sync with somebody else

Neva seen a people more suited for each other

You know what to say, when to say and even how to say it!

You know how to make me smile on the darkest of days

How could a guy ever get this lucky?

On your shoulders my mind is at rest

Not troubled by the hustles and bustles of life

Not yearning, not hoping not needing anything

Stopping time and breathing is all I purpose then

How could a guy ever get this lucky?

Thanks for accepting me with all my faults

Each day though I strive to be a better man for you

To trim my excesses and meliorate my strengths

To be ideal for you

How could a guy ever get this lucky?

You are the perfect verse of a tight beat

A great discovery I just made

A lottery I just won

A piece of gem I came by

How could a guy ever get this lucky?

Robert Aseda

(My poems)

oukoaseda@gmail.com

Kenyatta University

Of a nation in love with drama and situations

That we are a nation who lives for drama and theatrical presentations has never been in doubt. That national debates that split us right down the middle either on our ethnicity, party affiliations or social classes has been the order of the day is a fact no rational Kenyan can even try to refute. From the fur ore surrounding food shortage in the country and the possible persons responsible to whether or not a leader is criminally responsible for graft allegations or politically accountable for a scam that took place under his watch, to the Hague debate to the efficiency or lack of it in the public scrutiny for public office nominees, we as a nation have taken hard line stands on issues that don’t warrant such magnitude of sentiment.

The Genetically Modified (GMO) foods issue is the latest in the fray. With our history of melodrama I don’t know why am even surprised with the posturing and camaraderie that has surrounded the whole dispute. The effects if any of ingesting the GMOs is in public domain and any information on them has been made even  closer due to the technological advances that the globe has witnessed in the recent years. Search engines such as Google, yahoo have made the acquisitions of such information accessible in a matter of seconds.

The cabinet may have cleared the genetically modified foods as a short term solution to the raging food crisis as the possibility of landing a long term and permanent solution looks as a fast fading mirage and it maintains that their decisions were based on relevant government sanctioned projects and medical examinations carried over a period of time. The naysayers point out to the hazardous effects suffered elsewhere from the ingestion among them loose of virility and potency in men, brain and body complications, reduced life expectancy and among others including even death!

Whilst the debate swirls around and protagonists take sides one person who is likely to bear the greatest brunt has been left out, again! In the public debate of who loves the common mwananchi more one side that is likely to shoulder the load of any decisions made is once again spoken of as a third party-the dumb brother who must be spoken for as he can’t articulate his desires in a clear way. This isn’t the first time the ruling elite have dragged’ their people’ into a debate that has completely nothing to do with them but as mere stooges, as a means to an end.

The desire to settle old scores and satisfy egos is ever first, laced with the sweet words and camouflaged in concerned faces of our leaders and more often than not we take the bait. Am not asking you to forsake your constitutionally stipulated right to freedom of opinion. Neither am I asking you to forsake your civic duties. All am asking is that the next time you wish to say yes at a referendum let it be because you have real issues that you think will put food on your dining table and if you wish to say no, let it not be based on paranoia and fear of the Kadhi courts instilled by some political and religious leaders; a fear that may remain unfounded for an entire lifetime. And of course the next time someone is accused of graft let’s not lynch him if he’s of the other tribe and cry wolf he is our’ brother’.

Mzee Varaq

Dark light

On a pitch dark night

Under the heavy blanket of dark clouds

On a dark alley

With little provocation from too many a sip of wine

With no curious bystanders to instill fear of reproach

Decorum thrown to the wind

No dark thoughts to deter us

I found a willing partner or did  she find me?

On a dark ground

Away from the shining lights of the dark city

Our lips did brush

Lightly at first; but mad passion soon took over

I dint see your face; you dint see mine either

I dint catch your name, did you mine?

Methinks you dint offer it, could I be right?

The well defined contours of your body is all my hands remember

In the dark conduct, I found light

In my moment of weakness, I found a gem

In my moment of failure I found success

In my moment of insanity, I found rational

It’s not the sweet singing of the birds that woke me

It’s not the first rays of the sun hitting against my skin either

It wasn’t the cold breeze that was sweeping either

It was the realization that you were gone

Instead of your soft skin against mine

Instead of a charming smile to begin my day

Instead of the promise of a grander tomorrow

There lay a hopeless man

I don’t know if all ever see you again

Don’t even know where to look for you

Don’t know if it happened

or if it’s just the fervent dreams of a desperate man

One thing I do know though

Is that you exist

That though I know nothing about you

I know enough to want you in my life for life

Am not always like that

I won’t judge you either

Just let me see you one more time

To quench the flame in my heart

Robert Varaq Aseda

oukoaseda@gmail.com

(My poems)