Write I will write again
You said I should not hold back if it’s of gain
The lamentation, the insights and lamentations more
My writing the last time bore
A peep into the future and many things more,
How is the afterlife?
Kiprop was here as he always is
Forlorn, shaken and unmistakably disturbed
Like everyone else he has heard
That the bill is alive and well, ready to execute
The mandate of the new regime, on funding and service delivery
You see I hear him and share in his concerns
For why should I with two sheep
Provide one for the feast
Even when Mkubwa with his mighty flock
Provides one for us to share
“He has two too”, the records show
So I am forced to fend off one, reluctantly
And he the remaining ninety-nine
The sheep and grain contribution has a new name now
Peculiar, deep and scholarly
Oh it is not the same
The government utters it dearly
Tax is the name, and levy, or are they the same?
Peculiar, deep and scholarly these things are
Equity should be the guiding principle, I am told
In obtaining this tax, it is key
Mkubwa’s contribution should be more
For his flock is mighty and mine humble,
But his kind have devised a means
Towards ensuring the contribution is lessened to match that of our kind
How is this possible you wonder?
I do not share in your concern
For I know of lawyers, Bankers, Accountants and Tax specialists
This is their doing
Have you not heard the saying?
That the poor shall stay so as the rich get richer
It is robbery Uncle, robbery in broad daylight
There is more
They say sometimes it is legal
To rob the poor and bless the rich
Tax Avoidance they call it
The law is known to them they flaunt,
They are untouchable
There is more, I beckon
This is not always legal
Tax Evasion it is called
Those in power are its custodians, often
They are untouchable
Equity has been ewed
A befitting sacrifice to the gods of injustice
On the altar of gluttony and greed
Or has it been offered to hounds, the ewe?
Its mortality has been curtailed either way
The old and the youth have fallen victim to this sad state of affairs
More so the youth who are told they’re the beneficiaries of tomorrow
What is there to hope for?
Their tomorrow is on the dinner table
Being sumptuously feasted upon
By the very people who are to hand it over to them
On top of the Tarambas hill I have seen smoke,
Emanating from our neighbors’ across the border
The fire is burning it seems
Holding their heads in despair, wails hovering their and about,
The youth are watching helplessly
As their future is being consumed by the inequities at the core of taxation and taxes
Alas this evil is everywhere, so should be the solution
Let the elders convene, I write
Whose hair have been greyed
By concern, compassion and experience
Whether young or old let them convene
To give us a codification of taboos of an international scale
That transcends borders and generations
Let them call it the United Nations Tax Convention
For this evil is everywhere, so should be the solution
Let it bind all and sundry
Old and young alike, across mountains, waters and borders
High to the skies and deep into the abyss of hell
Let it render punishment and reproach
And cure this injustice and restore equity,
And enable the youth thrive, own their narrative and that of their future
Let it erase tax evasion and tax avoidance
The pen is drying but I will write again
I will not hold back for it will be of gain
The jubilations, the insights and jubilations more
My next letter shall bear
A peep into the progress and many things more
