I’m wondering why he’s boozing at this awkward spot and not at his haunt, where he normally indulges his habit amongst a group of his regular buddies.
He and I normally exchange niceties.
So I ask him, “Hey, bro, how come you’re drinking at this place, alone?”
“No reason, really,” he says, and after a little pause, he adds, “I just want peace… You know my washikaji can be noisy and gossipy, with no topic that helps any of us to improve his life!”
Okay. That’s all I say in response to his lie. Yeah, a lie, for, irrespective of his buddies’ alleged faults, I know for sure he isn’t any different.
Actually, whenever I sit at my table not far from his group’s at our common bar, I always notice this rogue is normally the most argumentative and loudest.
A know-it-all kind of a guy! I am nosy—yeah.
It’s all in a day’s work when you’re a scribe who pens the sort of crap that makes this kind of column, so I can confidently hazard a reason this guy is drinking while hiding.
Which is, there isn’t enough in his wallet to buy a round, and an unwritten rule amongst his group is this: if you can’t afford a drink for us all, don’t buy!
Water or soda, yes, but not beer, Konyagi or K-Vant!
That’s the plight of practising ujamaa—Bongo’s brand of African socialism—everywhere, even in bars!
Bongo bars...the mini parliaments, therapy sessions, and stadiums rolled into one.
Which brings me to tonight, when every barstool philosopher will swap gossip for football talk as Taifa Stars face Morocco in the CHAN—African Nations Confederation—quarter-final.
Go, Stars, go!
As a football lover and a patriot, you’re keenly looking forward to tonight’s CHAN quarter-final encounter.
Bongo’s national team, aka Taifa Star’s, are battling it out with the Moroccan team, aka the Atlas Lions.
Pundits say it’s going to be an electrifying match, and I agree with them.
The game, to take place at the 60,000-capacity Benjamin Mkapa Stadium (Kwa Mkapa), which we tout as the foreign team’s graveyard, is certain to be filled to the brim by dedicated fans. Ageing sons of Muyanza and his ilk will be watching the action as they enjoy all manner of drinkables in one bar or another, cheering and giving instructions (ha!) to our heroes.
Yes, heroes, because so far, they boast an unbeaten run—three clear wins and a single draw—with a record 10 points.
The Lions had on August 10 suffered a 0-1 thrashing at the hands of our EAC brothers to the north, Kenya’s Harambee Stars, hence ending with “a mere” 9 points. Hurrah, to Dr Ruto’s boys!
We, sons and daughters of Bongo, are all readying for nothing less than victory for Dr Samia’s valiant boys this evening.
