Jumia Books a parliament of owls

depicts the effects of war on the people and society in general. A good

government body is expected to promote and enhance peace yet the persona says the war left them

with gunshot wounds, scars and painful memories full of calamities. In the third stanza the first line

the persona says, “left of us are fingers without

arms ,fingers nails filed with nails for war .Left of

us are jewels for the coffins “this indicates lives and body parts that have been lost in the war that

could have been brought about by political wrangles and election violence . In an article from the

New York Times published on March 14, 2018 talks about the victims of political violence which

was experienced after the august 2017 general elections who wants more than handshake from the

Kenyan leaders. The then post-election violence left many citizens homeless and many lost their

lives as it disrupted peace and ways of living. The country’s political rivals Hon.Raila Odinga and

the President Uhuru Kenyatta have pledged to work together but the people who suffered under the

election violence feel betrayed and forgotten by their respective

leaders.

The poem “Down here in uyoma ”talks about how people of Uyoma no longer read newspapers nor

tune to their radios to 7oclock news .The people prefer to read writings on sisal leaves and pit

latrines where they will find news they cannot find anywhere .They read empty palms of wise men

and watch their eyes every sunset for news. The

persona says that the newspapers only make sense

when they are lighting a fire or wrapping the butcher’s meat and afterwards in pit latrines and

bushes after returning a comfortable call of nature. The people of Uyoma prefer doing this because

watching news and reading newspapers is aggravating since it is the same old news which the

government is doing nothing to make the society better .The people of Uyoma are expecting change

but the country is still stagnating. In an article ‘Kenyan news is bad for your health’ by Tee Ngugi

,he says that there is hardly uplifting news in Kenya every day the lead items are about the latest

heist of public money not by scar-fetched hoodlums in cheap jeans and dirty sneakers but by

educated ,church going people dressed in foreign –tailored clothes .Tee Ngugi using an example

from the recent calamity where first there were news of deaths and suffering in a number of counties

related to drought and then followed by denials from government officials who had not

bothered

to go and ascertain the truth from the affected regions.