Politics

You said you despised them

You criticised their flashy cars 

You sneered as they drove by in their wailing convoys

You said for all our troubles, they are to blame 

The people are nothing to them but insignificant toys

You complained of their over-stoked ego 

You understood that all they did was from selfishness and greed 

You noticed that they stood so high because they had put other people so low

They say their job is to lead

Yet you wondered how they could lead from tinted glass

How can a shepherd be invisible to his sheep 

You knew the society suffered from the painful separation of class.

Like a ship whose captain has fallen into a deep sleep

The country steered dangerously towards the waterfall

You watched and screamed at the obvious and imminent danger that lurks ahead

In desperation, you wished and prayed to the stars

To have the power to confront that which you have always feared 

To be different and force change

To the people, prosperity would not be strange

You would walk among the people as equals

No inferior, no superior, no class, for you would always answer to their calls

But as you pray, you forget something,

God is listening 

You are about to get exactly what you wished for 

Fate unfolds and you find yourself deep in the elites' core

You talk with them, eat with them, you laugh with them 

You are now at the root of the problem, and slowly you join the stem 

You then realise that you are but a human among humans

You are surely impervious to the mouth watering temptation 

so you yield ever easily to the dirty game's seduction

And you acknowledge that you are not adequate enough to handle God's response 

to your innocent and good intentioned prayers

You then begin to forget about the people's trials 

"This is how it is" you tell yourself this comforting lie

And to a people you were once a part of, you say your final good bye

Now you seat and watch him through the veil of the tint 

He watches back but he might as well have been blind

For he has no clue who you are, not the slightest hint

Yet you know him, you can even read his mind 

You know he will say he despises you 

You know he will criticise your flashy car 

You know he will sneer at your wailing convoy 

You know that he thinks that he is an insignificant toy 

But what he doesn't know is that we are all toys, just play things 

Nothing more than talking puppets on invisible strings

Only controlled by a powerful and destructive fate

You move on, hoping someone will see the strings before it is too late. 

Protocol in heaven?

Eid-Fitr is a day to celebrate and commemorate the holy month of Ramadan. A month, which sole purpose was to teach us about restraint against excesses. The month also has in it the teaching of humility of all humans. We are all equal before God; no inferior, no superior. Unfortunately a lot of us seem to have forgotten the importance of that teaching, of that key importance of this holy day.

This year’s Eid Fitr was quite different for me because I got an insight to how our “esteemed” leaders participated in this day. My family and I arrived at the field quite early at about 7:00am. There was urgency and a need to be there early this time. The field was almost empty except for the other early arrivals and the civil defence officials which had been stationed there to guide and control proceedings. This first thing I noticed, were the colourful ropes which had been tied to the trees to demarcate the fields. Looking at the setting of the demarcated spaces and listening to some of the civil defence barking out “protocol” at us, I assumed it was meant to separate the “VIPs”. I guess we must not have been important enough as we were placed on the row just before the supposedly  normal or common people (according to protocols). As I sat, I wondered to myself; does sitting in this demarcated space mean I am more religious or more important to God than the people behind me? Or would sitting here ensure that I would get accepted to heaven before those behind me? I had seen this pompous and unnecessary “protocol” being observed in government functions, but that was politics, that was manmade; so of course there would be a superior and an inferior. But witnessing this same protocol being practised on a religious front was baffling. In a place where there is meant to be only equality, people are still differentiated by class. I guess their “heaven” has protocols as well.

The next incident that made this Eid further irk me occurred towards the end. Prayers were meant to begin at 9:00am (but you can always trust African time), so we had mentally prepared for 9:30am. But the time was now 10:15am, and it did not seem like they were prepared to start. People started getting irritated, shouting “Saafu!!” (meaning stand for prayer). I also was already getting tired of straining my ear to listen to the sermon erupting from the virtually inaudible speakers. Then I became even more irritated when I found out about another protocol; apparently the prayer had been delayed for the arrival of the Emir, who could not arrive without the governor’s presence. I thought, or rather said out loud I have not come here to pray to the Emir or the Governor. However my disappointment didn’t go out to the Emir or Governor (I have very little expectation of our appalling leaders), but rather I was disappointed at the Imams, the religious leaders who saw it  fit to halt the prayers because of two people who were not time conscious. These religious leaders, out of their great reverence for these normal people with pompous titles have brought back idol worshiping. How else can one describe the inconveniencing of over two hundred and fifty thousandpeople  for a specific few? Then again, it could all be brought back to protocol; The Imams could be said to be observing protocol as well. We all know that our society is plagued with status, class and inequality, but it is saddening and shocking to see this mentality creep in to the religious sphere (a gateway to spirituality). Our Imams have abandoned their preaching on equality to adopt the preaching of protocol.

Gladly, among this chaos and negatives, one positive showed through: The little revolution by the supposedly "common people". Indulge me as I pull you back a bit. As we arrived and were seated in the last row of the “VIPs”, there was the sudden sound of rapid footsteps approaching us. I turned and saw a small cloud of dust as people were rushing towards the sectioned off area. People yelling in rapid Yoruba “Awa na fe sumo si Olohun” (they also want to be closer to their God). They burst through the flimsy rope demarcations and the menacing looking civil defence (with all their guns and dark shades) were reduced to begging cadets. The people showed the ropes for what they truly are, just rope, nothing more. They showed, how ridiculous the demarcations are, as we are equal in what truly matters-it is only our mind made construct that has created something as insignificant as class and status. I am glad the people understood their power and I hope the religious leaders would learn from their followers so they also see the Emirs and governors for what they really are -just people. i also hope they will learn to abandon protocol and return back to the teachings of humility and equality.