I wondered how she would feel if she knew that at Plateau Poly, where I was a student, I often bought fura da nono from the Fulani women who sat underneath the mango trees. Or that one of my best friends at school was called Abdul. But I knew that if I continued to ask questions, I would only piss her off so I kept quiet after that.
“I don’t know why my father chose the path that he chose. I am his daughter but nothing like him. I have carved my own path. I value human life; I respect the law and I’m here because I believe I can safeguard the constitution and the citizens of this country.” As she said the last words, she saw several officers exchange looks. The answer seemed to satisfy them because she got the job.
“You see, now that they have moved the port from Mombasa to Naivasha, what are the people of Mombasa who depend on the port for a living supposed to do?” She added that this seemed like a well-orchestrated plan to kill the economy of Mombasa.
When Constable Ali was murdered, every commercial motorcyclist in Lamari, a community in the town of Damari, celebrated. There was wild jubilation, for they thought that his demise was the end of their problems.
Binta understood that no creature could live in the same hole with a crab in peace. One day, she decided to relocate to her uncle’s house which was a five-minute drive away from her house.
At least, Mallam Abdullahi conceded, God had been kind to him. He had lost his first daughter, but he had lived long enough to see his second daughter return to him. Her mother had not been so lucky.
Kareem woke up to the beep-beep of a heart-rate monitor. He was in a hospital ward. In the intensive care unit. The lights flickered on and off for a while before stabilizing. Kareem’s eyes hurt and his head hurt even worse. He remembered.
Two men were beating him, stamping on him mercilessly. Without thinking twice, two men started raping Wanja and her mother as the father watched while lying in a pool of his own blood. It was the helplessness in the eyes of her dying father that hurt her the most. She will probably remember that look forever.
Ibrahim slumped. His fellow veterans rushed towards him screaming. The last thing Ibrahim saw before he lost consciousness was the waving flag of a country that had long ago abandoned the likes of him.
The village head spoke first. “My dear people, this is one of the methods of these people. When they see we are living in disunity, they find it easy to attack us. I know, some of you know, that even with our different beliefs or backgrounds, we have lived in Kira in peace for a long time until many of our young people started believing in emptiness. Their promises are empty. I have seen seventy-nine years on earth, and with the privilege of being your leader, I can tell you this. They are empty promises.”
