Over-indulgence shall be the death of this nation. It tears it apart with its talons. This is not a predator that creeps upon unsuspecting preys, no. It has balls. It does not even bother with camouflaging itself. And you know what? It’s pretty darn good at hunting. Forget terrorism. Terrorists cover up bombs, they hide them beneath buses. They kill a handful when they strike. Terrorism is not the number one affront to Kenyan lives. It’s the devil’s pee that is killing us, and it has been at it for years now.
They come in different names- and funny ones at that. First there was Yokozuna. And no, it doesn’t make you famous (or fat for that matter). And now there is a new player in town that boasts of 19 lives. Its name is Gathuvuria. You must be very brave to partake of a substance called Gathuvuria, leave alone abuse it. And get this, Gathuvuria is actually a brand of wine, not ati chang’aa or beer. Wine, they say. That is the first red flag. Which vineyard do you know of in Embu County? Oh, and by the way, Gathuvuria translates loosely to ‘small sufuria’ to the locals of Shauri Yako, Embu County- where it struck and left 19 people lifeless, and 35 others hospitalized in its wake.
Gathuvuria joins the ranks of national disasters that have so adamantly claimed otherwise productive lives in Kenya. It follows in the footsteps of those who came before it, and like Elisha of old, it is hell bent on spreading the injili ya kamoja tu.
In Kiambu, nine people were confirmed dead, three people among them being a father and two sons who had gone hunting in Kiambu forest. I really do not understand why, of all the places this family could go for a tipple, they chose a forest. Were they going to perform a ritual or something? Pour libations to their fore-fathers maybe? Well, one thing for sure is, when they were found lying comatose on the forest floor, they had not been attacked by wild animals, or cannibals. It was this beast called ‘illicit brew’. The only thing we cannot say for sure is whether the death was occasioned by Gathuvuria or one of its family members. All we know is from then henceforth, there is a grieving mother and a lonely wife in desperate need for a hug somewhere in Kabogo’s yard.
Now, on to the brewers of fobe haramu.
Those are serial killers. Of course the temperature is never taken in determining this, but what they do is actually murder in cold blood. Intention marries the act. The smoking gun here is in liquid form in room temperature- a weapon of mass destruction. It’s a new school model of the good old murder case.
There has been no news of arrests, all we hear about are that containers of Gathuvuria were confiscated. Same story we have been hearing over and over again- same brew different drunkards.
In the meantime, parents keep burying their sons and daughters. See, during times of peace, sons burry their parents. In times of war, parents burry their children.
Are we at war, folks?