By Nyang’au Araka The Linda Mwananchi brigade pitched a tent in Kisumu on Sunday, and a single photograph captured there has done what hours of speeches could not. Going by the way the image is flying online, one can agree that it has seduced the national imagination and frozen a restless political moment into pure, […]

By Shem Onderi It has ingredients—some used fully, some in part,and some set aside altogether,even after being chosen. Those abandoned are not without worth.Perhaps the cook set them asideon a scale of preference.What is left out todaymay find its way into the next meal. A recipe is often written down,carefully planned for a better outcome.The […]

By the Idler-in-Chief I am here to tell you that in Nyagenke, we do not believe in Google Maps. You see, Google Maps has never harvested maize, attended a harambee, or negotiated right of way with a stubborn goat. So when a four-year-old boy, Mose Morara, ama ukipenda MM, or better still Double M instructed […]

By Shem Onderi This is business moneyIt is huge or little depending on where it is putIt is colossal at the startSometimes tempting to divert into other usesThe temptation to maul it Capital remains just that; it must serve its original purposeIt will either multiply, make the owner rich—With stomach and buttocks protruding from the […]

By Shem Onderi Delegations arrive—one after another—to the State Office,speaking of country. Salutes snap from men in uniform.Their presence presses in—overwhelming,filling every corner of my space. The delegates are neat for the occasion,their language polished, deliberate. Documents await my signature;diplomats praise their motherlands. Another meeting gathers—party delegates draped in ruling colours,chaotic in energy,yet urgent,for they […]

By the Idler-in-Chief In the good old days of Nyagenke, the word harambee carried the weight of a grandmother’s walking stick: firm, purposeful, and occasionally used to correct behavior. Those days, the people of Nyagenke said it with a straight back and a cleaner heart, for it meant we pull together, even when pulling was […]

By Shem Onderi It is dirty,Collecting filth of every kind.See how waste clings to metal, carried milesBefore it lets go.Mud cakes beneath the bus—some for months. Sometimes, the underside gathers a decomposing carcass,Dragging it for miles, through town,Into the bus park, trailing fragments,Scattering pieces into the yard,Oozing an unpleasant odor. Some of the rot becomes […]

By Shem Onderi If my pen would speak,It could tell of the times I paused writing—Not that I was weak,Only that the ideas faded outWhen my mind drifted to non-issues. The pen would complain of how I ended paragraphs abruptly.It would grumble about my heavy fingers,How they pressed it to the page as though squeezing […]

By Isaac Dan Bw’onyancha Public leadership and influence take many forms. It is time to move beyond the narrow view that they are only conferred through the ballot. Across the world, individuals have assumed powerful, organic leadership roles and command admiration and loyalty that often surpass those in elective office. From music and sports to […]

By Shem Onderi How long—long for who?Why the long night, for anyone to say so?Who can count the length of the night?For some, how can a night be that long? While for others, it is short—just sleep and wake to morning.When is the night long?What makes it so—perhaps the dreams,The darkness, or the depth of […]