This is the story of a village vastly blessed...
A village with undying dreams and vision...
One messed up by it's villagers' shortsightedness, greed and the fear of acting...
*Drum Rolls*
This is the story of Jamhuri...........................*More Drum Rolls*........................
...Once upon a time, there was a
tree that was planted in the village of Jamhuri. 
The tree was right in the middle of the path to Uhuru. As the tree grew, it obstructed meaningful development in Jamhuri.
The villagers were not happy with the tree. The tree had been planted by the first chief of Jamhuri amid protests from some of the village elders and villagers.
The villagers and some elders did not understand why the chief wanted that tree in the first place. They did not understand why you needed to be a friend of the chief for you to partake the fruits of the tree of Jamhuri.
Despite the noise made by the villagers, the chief and his cronies continued watering the tree and it grew large and imposing. Villagers started to adore the tree but they could not go near it. Their children could not play on it.
Soon enough, the tree started producing fruits.
The fruits were enjoyed by members of the chief’s family and his cronies. As it grew bigger, the fruits increased in numbers and the chief’s friends started to extend the delicacies to their friends too.
The villagers started suffering as
a result of this tree. Nobody was allowed to eat any fruit from the tree or use
it for any other purpose without the direct permission from the chief himself.
As time went by, those who were benefiting from the tree saw no need to work as
the tree was taking care of all their needs.
Their kids played on that tree all
day while their pet parrots had their nests on the tree.
The chief and his
friends had constructed hammocks on the tree to relax on whenever their stomachs were full. They would rest on their hammocks enjoying the cool breeze
from the tree and listen to the chirping of their pet parrots all day.
They
talked of how lucky they were to be enjoying the fruits of Jamhuri. They were
quick to congratulate the chief for planting such a sweet tree and restricting
the number of people who could eat from it. The chief was a bit concerned with
the villagers not being able to eat anything from the tree but his cronies rubbished his concerns.
“These are our matunda ya
Jamhuri..." *hic* Quipped
one of his friends "...Let them go collect matunda ya Uhuru from the forest.”and proceeded to sip wine made from the same fruits....
...Uhuru was a big forest that
neighboured the village of Jamhuri.
There was only one path that led into Uhuru
as the forest was surrounded by a crocodile infested river. The chief used to
lead the villagers into the forest and they would gather matunda ya Uhuru and
take them back into the village for everyone to share.
This was long before he
had planted the injusticeae corrupta species. The villagers
led by the chief would fight off any attack from wild animals. The fruits of Uhuru
were self sustaining and the villagers needed only to sustain the environment
for the forest to provide them with plenty for eternity. The chief and his
cronies however had other ideas. When the chief planted his tree in the middle
of the path to Uhuru, he had looked for a location where the tree would get
adequate water from the river.
Having settled for a spot near the bridge, he
blocked the path and nobody could gain access to the forest. He also stopped
leading his villagers to collect and enjoy the fruits of Uhuru. They even allocated
themselves some of the best fruit bearing trees of Uhuru and dared any villager
who wished to die to eat from the trees. Villagers were now left with only one
option.
Those who could dare swam across the crocodile infested river to get to
Uhuru and collect some of the sour fruits that the chief and his buddies had no
use for.
Many of those who took the risk were devoured by crocodiles while
those who survived the river were not so lucky with the wild animals. Only a
small number made it back with the sour fruits of Uhuru and planted the seeds
in their own shambas. Due to the risk involved, none dared share the seeds with
the others. In due course, these new owners had their own matunda ya Jamhuri trees.
The majority of villagers toiled and ate dry cassava with bitter
herbs. With time, they forgot the taste of matunda ya Uhuru.
Injusticeae corrupta thrived and thrived. Its
roots reached far and wide. Its leaves remained green in good weather and in
bad weather. It bore fruits in high season and in low season.
The chief and his
cronies grew healthier from eating the fruits of Jamhuri and with the satiation
come arrogance. The villagers were bedazzled. It was fine with them if the
chief had decided they were not worth of partaking matunda ya Jamhuri but
why on earth couldn’t they enjoymatunda ya Uhuru? Matunda ya Uhuru rightfully
belonged to the people of Jamhuri. Matunda ya Uhuru were
plenty and enough for all and sundry.
Why had it been made so difficult to
access matunda ya Uhuru? Why was it necessary to close the path to Uhuru yet
there were so many other spots where the chief could have planted his injusticeae
corrupta? The villagers wished they had answers to these questions yet the
more they thought about them, the more they got confused.
There was one particular village
elder who fell out with the chief completely because of the chief’s tree. He
did not see why Jamhuri needed a tree to specifically cater for the needs of
the chief and his friends. He was of the idea that all able men should go to Uhuru
and return with the days requirements which should then be shared out equally
to all villagers.
The chief and his cronies thought him crazy and kicked him out of the council
of elders. To isolate him even more, the chief made it difficult for the
elder’s region in the village to get vital resources. Before the quarrel,
villagers from the western part of the village where the elder hailed from
could cross the river and access the forest of Uhuru. The river on that side
was quite narrow and was less infested with crocodiles. After the fight, the
river banks were sank to widen it and crocodiles were bred on the western bank
to prevent access to matunda ya Uhuru...
With time, the roots of Injusticeae Corrupta started spreading uncontrollably. Greed became the norm of the day. The roots engulfed the whole tree. Injusticeae Corrupta was becoming a self made monster ...
THE AFTERMATH .......to be continued
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