Why deafening silence on current turmoil

Dear judge Mbadwa,

I am not writing you now to draw your attention to the marathon election case that is taking place at the Nyasaland’s Constitutional Court and whether it matters that some legal minds can claim to be the Pharisee emeritus well versed in teaching the Mosaic law or whether they are practising Pharisees, still perfecting the art of imparting the law to willing students, no.

My lord, I have no issue with the cross-examinations and the objections that only heighten the fact that both counsels for petitioners and respondents are just strict legalists who stand for rigid observance of the Mosaic Law for their good and nothing more.

It is not my business today to judge these keepers of tradition and why it is necessary to let them outdo each other in the matter you and fellow judges are presiding over.

But what has moved me, my lord, is something happening outside the courtroom, which nobody seems to be taking a particular interest in.

In case you were not alerted; as you were preparing to hear that epoch-making case, the citizens were also perfecting the art of stoning, looting and plundering.

In fact, the looting and plundering was so grotesque in its execution as shops and business of innocent private citizens were targeted by people bent on reaping where they did not sow.

My lord, why are Nyasas becoming so uncouth all of sudden? Is this really a case of misdirected anger that had been simmering for some time and it is manifesting itself in the aftermath of the calamitous May 21 presidential elections?

My lord, while you were still going through volumes of submitted evidence, more and more Nyasas were gradually having an affinity for gasoline and a penchant for throwing the petrol bombs at houses and offices of people who are fierce critics of the establishment.

Aren’t they justified those asking why there is a sudden increase of a group called unknown people or unknown thugs who go about their business of committing arson in the middle of the night?

My lord, I refuse to believe that Nyasas are a bunch of thieves, looters, arsonists and violence perpetrators who are hiding under the banner of peace-loving citizens when the ground is not fertile for provocation.

While you might be trying to sanitise the mess that the elections have created through your court system, the real work to ensure a just society is outside your courtroom my lord.

Unfortunately, there is dead silence out there as if the burning, the looting, the petrol bombs and the revenge attacks have become the new normal.

But there is a danger if we pet this anger by only talking about it in hushed tones, we might find out that we have actually created monsters which would kill, maim and plunder without any iota of responsibility all in the name of protecting their different interests.

That pack of faith leaders might be trying its best to bring these warring factions together, but what hope is there when everyone seemed to have taken a rigid stance of only wanting to see their position accepted?

I did submit a couple of weeks ago, if you care to remember my lord, that there is a superficial prognosis of the current political crisis that has masked the anger of the proletariat, the peasants and petit bourgeois, otherwise known as the lower middle class.

My lord, I understand you have the powers to order people around using your gavel. Can’t you act on leaders who don’t want to face this crisis head on?

Hoping against hope to see some change,

I remain,

Nzika Yeniyeni

With Emmanuel Luciano

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