A PEOPLE AFRAID

The cardinal responsibility of government remains yet, the protection of lives and property. Government is to serve the people and never the other way around. Hence, a system that does not protect the collective interest ofits people cannot demand their loyalty.We are all here, scared to venture out. There is hardly any day we do not double check if our doors are locked. We cannot go to the farm without looking out for hostility. Not from wild animals, but from humans like us. We do not wait till twilight. After putting a few grains of corn in the ground, we pick our hoes, place them on our shoulders and head back home. Back at the settlement, our spouses lock up their shops around the same time. They can no longer sell when it is dark. We are all here, scared of what may be or what may not be.

The government tells us that the land and the waters and all that are in them, and beneath, belong to them. We can only explore as far as the laws allow us. The same laws that should protect us, but haven't for once done so, in this land our fathers' fathers told our fathers is ours.

The government, the same one Hobbes calls Leviathan, knocks on your door. He orders you to give him two plates of yam pudding. You do so. He tells you you are his servant, and that you must do so kneeling down. You must show some respect. It is this same government you and your siblings and all your friends decided to give your rights to so he could protect you. This same government who barges into your house, turns you around and rapes you in the anus.Hobbes describes life in the state of nature as solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short. We are a people with a government that should protect us, but we, each day, develop this strong insomnia each time we see the sign of themoon. We are a people somewhere in Africa.

A SCARED NATION