‘Gathitima’ -Power Without Life

‘Gathitima’ -Power Without Life

I am tired of pretense. I am tired of rhetoric. I am indeed tired of lethargic effect of untimely condolences created not made. If you are running a marathon there must be spectators urging you on to the finish line. Likewise if you are a certified substance abuse addict or alcoholic for that matter society must treat you like a marathoner. Such that your being an addict did not happen overnight. It cut a social habitual graph that defined most of your days activity imbibing over time. Using and using more became a bottomless pit. Thus you became depended. Got Hooked up.  In my humble opinion it takes a considerable amount of time to prepare for a marathon.  Kenya is re-known world over for setting fastest paces, making her own world record marathon races and breaking the same at will all these seemingly effortlessly.  We lead in the park of marathon others simply follow. That is our signature line.  There is an insurance advert line that keeps me thinking and I like it most before it hooks up to the noose. The line is “You absolutely have no obligation, or in other words in case of an accident you are not liable whatsoever. In this particular instance of addiction we are however all liable in one way more than the other.  Someone has to take government of kenya to task for causing innocent life loss due to sudden withdrawal of alcohol. The Addict does not ask for illicit brew or legal version he simply consumes what current market provides, or whatever his economic status can afford.

Kenya is a one nation as far as it is concerned to the fight against illicit brew.  We shall surely fight you to the ‘Mvunguni mwa kitanda’. When it comes to mega corruption of our recent age known or imagined its is an attack to tribe, a community. When it comes to fight against illicit brew and second generation ‘addiction’  we are almost in unison across the divide.  What happened to the values and traditions that define our nation Kenya.  Corruption and the venom of KQ billions of loses will be a subject for another sober day because I can’t take off now. Today I am high , I am grounded and the bailout won’t do magic. What I smoked or inhaled from the neighbors balcony must be K2 (a concoction of Cannabis and speed)  or I may have ingested pure changaa, which is Russian vodka version made in Mukuru kwa njenga slum or brewed somewhere in Busia border and delivered timely before dawn in central Kenya. Never mind the numerous road blocks erected along the Malaba Busia Border or Nakuru-Naivasha Highway. We now know from reliable sources they are in most part purely express avenues of live ‘Hongo na kitu kikubwa’  corruption et al.. I might be high on  ‘Muguks’ (Some natural occurring stimulant herbal plant)  or  I probably  ‘high jacked’  a pickup track from Meru via Siakago with tones of Khat or Miraa “eine gehfelisch druge” now burned in  Germany since 1998 but parked at my backyard somewhere in East Leigh ready for shipment to Kismayo.

Addiction and Alcoholism is not as easy as flossing our teeth or flushing a toilet. The Kenyan Government deserves all support from all quarters in resolve to fight illicit brew once and for all. I have no problem in fighting the bad liquor but I have a serious clinical and behavioral problem in how we have handled our Kenyan alcoholics and drug addicts. Availability of drugs and alcohol is easier than the democratic space we have fought for so long.  We have however been so much intoxicated with political brew that we asked for not. What we ordered at mama pima was delivered with sophistication of urgency that no sooner we had galloped the concoction down our throats while standing, we were whisked away to collapse on the way home. The last nail on our coffin was swallowed alive. The Government has come up with tough laws which I surely support. Brilliance at work. However the laws have not killed the menace of alcoholism and addiction but literally killed breathing souls of our brothers and sisters. Not unless as a Kenyan your brain is extracted from your skull or your memory sold to the highest bidder that you can’t notice the loss of lives during the fight against illicit brew. We would have otherwise saved lives if we employed pragmatic and proactive exit strategy in the whole fight against illicit brew. Its common sense which in most at times is not common, we can’t be too emotional to withdraw cheap liquor and not too emotional when my face book page is full with sudden death R.I.P initials that don’t tell you exactly what happened. Most of commentaries made a mockery of the deceased. In our African culture we do not mock the dead because they are defenseless and it’s a taboo.  Some comments were composed straight from hell and burnt all the way like California wild forest fires to our social media. Some even liked the button. How and when did we as civil society became so insensitive to human suffering.

The Government of Kenya could have identified rehabs and emergency mobile clinics that could have handled withdrawals not funerals. Life not deaths. Addicts and alcoholics life matters. Addiction is a mental and socio-physiological disease that envelopes our normal daily activities. Young life gone too soon. If indeed it was because of Alcoholism withdraw, then it must have been painful writhing death. The Government Should have created an exit strategy before being so reactive. Some lives, would have  been saved. The funeral expense will roughly translate to a three month rehabilitation in a modest centre. If he had children we can't replace the father figure even if he was a drunkard as allegedly here by some comments. Addiction is a mental & physiological disease. Deliriums tremens (gathitima) can be lethal. What many don't know in hospital we use controlled alcohol intake to stabilize the patient due to withdrawal syndrome. Rest in peace. my Condolence to the immediate family has become a too familiar line someone has to be found culpable of causing untimely deaths, suffering and pain.

So far the country has  lost thousands from the  illicit brew menace. Thousand have been buried before. They literary walked blind to their graves as we mocked them and cracked our ribs such that “Hata Mkizima stima tutakunywa tu!”.   In the drunkenness and abyss of  addiction the state or any one for that matter has no moral authority to voluntary or involuntary strip one his or her dignity addicted or sober.  American Society of Addiction Medicine defines addiction as a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory and related circuitry. Dysfunction in these circuits leads to characteristic biological, psychological, social and spiritual manifestation. While other definitions like America National institute on drug abuse asserts that Addiction is defined as a chronic, relapsing brain disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences. It is considered a brain disease because drugs change the brain; they change its structure and how it works. These brain changes can be long lasting and can lead to many harmful, often self-destructive, behaviors. The alcoholics in Central province Kenya and elsewhere deserve continuum of care through immediate rehabilitation not condolences and and R.I.P abbreviations. They need to wake sober in the next chapter of life.