nyika@2011

COMRADE POWERLESSNESS

The ‘comrade’ did not remember what his name meant .He could not remember whether the name deserved him or whether he deserved it. More tragically, he could not even remember what the name meant, and whether it had originated from Russia, Serbia, or Montenegro. Moreover, when he asked around, nobody else knew, of course. The rest of the ‘comrades’ were just as ignorant and as rain beaten as he was. The comrade in this context was Jackson nyika, and wherever you asked, nobody knew him. But of course, they knew he was a comrade. Allow me now to put this argument into perspective, before I start rattling of like some government or party spokesperson.

Ideally, we university students think we are the best thing to happen to Kenya since mzee ‘rose’ to power. Whenever you walk along the bylanes, cafeterias, lecture halls, frustration squares, or even churches, we are in the order of the day’s chaos, and we never pause to apologise.come to think of it, in our comrade pursuit of hell, we do not even pause to breath or hiccup. That is why we are always dying of over drinking, irresponsible sex, constipation, and information overload. We people are good at dying, im telling you. We race police officers along the streets, daring them to shoot us, which they gleefully do. Since the Kenyan police are just as responsible,unschooled and spineless as we are, they are trigger happy, and they shoot first, and never ask questions later, and when they do, the question always ends with kitu kidogo.It’s a wonder that the Kenyan police can hit the side of a barn when aiming at it. Do the police hold celebrations when (which is rare, anyway) they shoot right? About the police, I lay my case to rest lest I end up at Integrity House answering all sorts of questions, ranging from why I was born and why I allowed it to happen, to why  did I go to school. In addition, what a comrade is, of which I had known, this article would not be here in the first place.

Back to the comrade thing. Why do I have a feeling that universities in this country are raising criminals and hooligans to take over when the operational hooligans in this country drop off the face of the earth? Speaking of the face of the earth. It is hard to know when a Kenyan politician (which is a wise way of describing an underworked and over paid despicable member of the August house, whatever that is)is going to retire, or just drop dead, since a century old geezer occasionally raises up, walks up to a dirty podium and yells at us ,”It is now time for us, the youth”. A bright future, and we comrades should be happy because our political idols(more like devils) have over the years taught us how to loot, throw stones,chairs,and ‘take care’ of wayward friends. Now we are warming up to the prospect of going for each other’s potbellies (as soon as we develop them) whenever we differ on the price of candy. Looking at our prospects, and with a prophetic comrade eye, and peering over the peephole in the lecture room, i find our future so bright that we are in the danger of losing our sight, unless someone dims it a little.

What do I say next? Do I talk about comrade habits, which are all bad, or about the most recent ‘comrade’ hobby, which is drunk staggering along the lanes? May be I had best get out of here.

Jackson nyika, GM ‘10