DEFLECTING DEFLECTIONS

DEFLECTING DEFLECTIONS

It was close
Too close to call
We were still undecided.
We rolled the dice again
In the end, one pulled ahead
But only by two hair lengths.
We settled,
Better than a stalemate.
We handed you the reigns
We expected nothing short of better,
After all, you did promise us better.


Thought you’d hit the ground running,
How wrong we were.
You did hit the ground alright
But so far you’ve done no running.
You’re flailing, slowly drowning
Without even setting out to sea
We’re yet to see you break into a run.
House, in disarray
Servants, on holiday
Citizenry, saddled with grief, anguish and meager wage
Social systems, nonexistent
Policies, pretty confusing
Your explanations, more confusing
In summary, we’re all jaded, pretty tired.


Education’s no good
Free for all, way to go
Quality, pretty suspicious, that’s no good.
Students can barely read and write
They argue 4 plus 2 minus 1 is ten
Pretty costly,
These free things of yours.
Cost of utilities, sky high
Basic wage, a sham, a shame, a shambles running amok.
We labour in futility
Electrical gadgets, we now use ‘em sparingly
Potable water, still a myth today.
The economy, conflicting information
We fail understand your tail wagging brand
Of economic English.
Health Insurance, a perilous insurance
A deadly insurance
It’s cash and carry all over again.
Affordable housing, welcome the South Koreans
Road Projects, welcome the Chinese and others
Where is our nation’s human resource?


Oil industry, cloaked in secrecy
Too many unanswered questions
How can you run an industry
With so many structures out of place?
Have we learnt nothing from
Our brothers in the Niger Delta?
Have we not learnt anything from the
Oil spill in the Mexican Gulf?
Smash and grab
Tackle from behind
Heckling and squabbling for majority stake,
Who is running the show in this Oil drenched comedy?
Too many players in this oily game.
Job creation, we await Houdini figures
At best, all we’ll ever get are a few public shows
Touting figures simmering to a boil
Well cooked yet still a tough swallow.
What happened to transparency?
What happened to the voice of the people?
What happened to the common good?
Oh!!! How easily people forget
We’re still waiting on our cake
Almost two years and counting
You sure must be baking one heck of a cake.
Then again, you just might have left us out
In the sharing of the proverbial cake.


The proverbial sluggards
We despised the ant and enjoyed the harmattan
Then came the rains
With it, the floods.
People shrieked in pain
Houses washed away in runoff
Houses without roofs
Gone with the wind
People with nowhere to sleep
But they had it better,
Others had torrid tales untold.
Come the next morning,
Horrid tales did unfold.
Lives lost in floodwaters,
People distressed
Saddened and
Grieving for loved ones lost.


They looked up to you for hope
You looked into their expectant eyes
You told them an age old-tale
You did not even blink an eye.
Blame the guy who was here before me
This is all his fault, he’s the guilty party here.
He marched rubbish and garbage into waterways
He dumped rubbish into sewers and drains
He built houses on all the waterways
He did command the torrential rains.
Look upon him with disdain
He’s no saint
Just one without shame.
I see your pain
I wish you well
These floods have always plagued us
It is a part of us
It is our culture
Please do embrace the floods
And blame the one who came before me
He’s the source of all our troubles and woes.


When the road is potholed
And uncomfortable to drive on,
Please do not come to me
Go drop your grievances at the doorstep
Of my predecessor,
He’s the tyrant
He’s the despot
He’s the miscreant
He has a hand in all of these.


When you drown in taxes
And die of disease,
When you go hungry
And live in abject poverty,
Please blame the guy who came before me
He’s a very greedy and selfish man
He only came to enrich himself
And left us all impoverished and broke.
He brought ex-gratia
He gave us our share
We took those cheques through no fault of ours
The law said we were entitled to them.
If we had our own way,
We would have given back those cheques
But we cannot disobey
Legislative, Judicial and executive instruments,
Have no idea which of the above prescribed ex-gratia
But refusing that service award
Would be very wrong
Very unpatriotic and quite unacceptable.


Grieve not people
Instead, wise up
Be a strong people.
Instead of dying of hunger
Live, become an eight wonder
My brother, rumble like thunder
And bellow into the yonder.
Count the days,
The nights
The months
And the years.
Count patiently
Please wait patiently
When presented with choices,
Go on and use your head.
Do not choose based on
Colour
Ethnicity
Location
Propaganda
Paltry handouts and free things
But rather listen intently.
When in doubt, question continuously
And choose with conviction
Choose free of inhibition.
It is only you and I who can build this nation
We hold the keys to the gates of our nation
Rise and let us build this nation
We need discover that which made us
That once proud nation
The coast of gold
The star of Africa.