🍹 Picket Fence

L: Mliamua mnachoma nchi.

H: Kiswahili is one of the languages you're fluent in?

L: Continuity and relatability improve if that hypothesis is true.

H: Your Google Translate seems to be a bit off, though. Kenya isn't on fire.

L: What was Wednesday, then?

H: Apart from the Kessentials relaunch?

L: Yes, dummy.

H: Um-- Oh, you mean the demonstrations?

L: I love how every new one is supposed to be “the mother of all demonstrations.”

H: Rapid-fire generational changes. Anyway, why would you think that amounts to Kenya being set ablaze?

L: It kinda feels like that, theoretically, at least. I don't think anyone could've envisioned such an unfolding of events, even a year ago when the political temperature was at a fever pitch.

H: It’s been one hell of a rollercoaster ride. But lots of things have changed between then and now.

L: I hate to bring this back to movies again, but-

H: Yaay. You’re enhancing your story-telling skills.

L: -it looks like the dystopic end we're shown before being rewound to the past where everything was rosy, and the characters couldn't imagine that their lives would soon spiral out of control.

H: Alarmist.

L: The news about it is plenty muted in international media; I guess the French protests are more newsworthy. What are they vandalising and looting and getting killed for?

H: You'd need a whole political history to really get it.

L: You took History in high school, no?

H: Yeah, but I only internalised as much as was enough to pass the next exam.

L: How'd that work out for you?

H: History being one of my only two As in KCSE.

L: Darn. Thought I was onto something.

H: You kind of were. The journey was riddled with undeserved Ds and Es, but we're meant to believe that was all in service of the refinement of our A-scoring potential.

L: The structure of “standardised” national exams is crazy.

H: Despite all that, I can't exhaustively tell you why Kenyans are simultaneously politically charged and neutral.

L: Seems irresponsible to be unbothered by the undercurrents creating your country's political tides.

H: One can dedicate only so much attention and energy to stuff. Politics is obviously a top contender for those resources, but I find it a bit too chaotic to keep up with. Not to mention, it's all either shrouded in mystery, shady practices, or bad news.

L: You could always regulate the amount you expose yourself to as you learn.

H: Sure. I probably should prioritise that, but you know how sometimes you're just content to sit in your ignorance? That's me right now.

L: Aren't you afraid of missing out on, like, laws and other occurrences that could directly shape your daily life?

H: It doesn't really help to be thoroughly informed since the nitty gritty won't actively guide my life or ballot decisions. Nor does it hurt, as I'm happy to passively observe the surface-level day-to-day. The analysis and speculation can be left to the experts dedicated to pursuing this knowledge.

L: And, of course, the armchair experts on your WhatsApp status.

H: My favourites.

L: Your ballot decisions should be moulded by your political knowledge and beliefs, though, right?

H: Right. And maybe this is just me speaking in cluelessness, but there's just no one to vote for.

L: That mindset is all fun and games till you realise that when lots of people share it, your collective non-participation abets the ascension of the same old corrupt, selfish, and incompetent leaders.

H: But the alternative would be not only identifying a suitable alternative candidate every election cycle but also convincing the millions of other unaligned voters that they should back my chosen guy/girl too.

L: A losing game.

H: So my middle ground is staying abreast enough that the memes make sense, but knowing I'm in too deep if I can write whole Kessentials about the day's political climate. All that’d add to my life would be an additional stressor.

L: So we chill as the country goes down the drain, one way or the other.

H: I’m cautiously optimistic that our future leaders will do better. For now, we’re stuck here indefinitely.

L: What would a right-now fix be, in your ignorant opinion?

H: The two fahali putting their egos and differences aside and recognising that the country is bigger than their agendas. But that's not going to happen.

L: This is what you get for naming your kid an abstract noun, Karuri: Their character often jets off in the opposite direction.

H: Ha. He'd be pretty disappointed if he read this.

L: My observation?

H: No, the post.

L: He falls into the “politically charged” category, ey?

H: Not really, but he believes in choosing the lesser evil. I'm wondering why evil is our only option.

L: The lesser evil philosophy seems to be the demonstration's fuel, too. "My devil is a better devil than yours. But, like, not better at being a devil. Just— A nicer one, if you will."

H: But we have the luxury of seeing their horns and sinister operations for what they are.

L: Luxury?

H: When you're desperate and have nothing to lose, you care little about getting in the mud pit for a duel with the pigs because you believe that's the only way you’ll have something to eat tonight.

L: Unless the pigs hurt or kill you, and you can never eat again.

H: What a time to be alive.

L: In the meantime,