Drum Bits of Terror: Drum Bits of Terror

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197 30 hen the New Year came, no one noticed. A sheer blood bath of terror already engulfed the nation. Although a curfew was in effect, forcing people to stay indoors, it was rumoured that, in other parts of the nation, Nakuru and Naivasha, it was a ploy used to keep the innocent for unfathomable slaughter. Fear bred fear, a wrenching feeling of mistrust among people. It bred misery throughout the land, the kind that turned sane men into capricious beasts of terror devoid of reason and conscience, or devoid of the brotherhood of humankind, neglecting their own humanity. For if only humankind embraced its humanity, what justice would one have in dousing another with kerosene and watching the victim’s body become charred black like a marshmallow at a bonfire. What just cause would one have in stabbing another with a poisoned arrow indiscriminately? If only conscientious men, governed not by the venom of their tongue, but the prudence of their thoughts and action, or those tamed by other’s rhetoric of division, they might see reason in the muck of utter confusion. The nation’s youth, whose conscience yielded to venomous manipulation, saw nothing wrong in their destructive actions; for in their view, they had cornered their lion and all that was left was a spear to complete the job. Unfortunately, the lion would soon take a bite at them. The police unleashed dogs on the defenceless. When they opened the doors of steel, they showed no mercy to the unguarded who marched through the streets of Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, Kisumu, or Kakamega. The youth, in their protest, hoped to stage a peaceful protest for the unjust adjudication of the result from the election. Yet, had they not simply been lured into a trap without an escape route? Or had they simply drunk the opium of political manipulation laced with the poisoned promise of hope and unfettered freedoms? How could one quell such a grand movement? W 198 ...