ODE TO LINDA MWANANCHI

                    For the Liberation Drum of Kenya

O hear, O soil of Kenya,

Land watered by sweat before rain,

Land whose children still wait

For justice promised at dawn.

From the green ridges of Western Kenya

Rose a procession not of silence—

But of voices sharpened by hunger,

Hope marching barefoot into history.

At the front stood

Edwin Sifuna,

Bearer of the people’s petition,

A son forged in debate and defiance,

Calling the nation to remember itself.

Behind him walked

James Orengo,

Keeper of liberation’s memory,

Whose voice once rattled prison doors

So freedom could learn its own name.

There too thundered

Babu Owino,

Fire of the restless generation,

Speaking where fear once slept,

Refusing the quiet surrender of youth.

From Trans Nzoia’s vigilant hills came

George Natembeya,

Guardian of forgotten borders,

Declaring that leadership must kneel

Before the suffering citizen.

And the people gathered with

Emmanuel Wangwe,

Majimbo Kalasinga,

And Godfrey Osotsi,

Voices woven into one banner—

LINDA MWANANCHI!

O citizens, arise!

Not for men alone,

But for the promise they carry—

A nation where justice is not negotiated,

Where dignity is not borrowed.

Let markets sing their names,

Let boda bodas carry the anthem,

Let classrooms whisper courage again.

For liberation is not a sword—

It is a people standing together.

So rally behind Sifuna,

Not as ruler,

But as torchbearer;

Not as master,

But as servant of the republic yet unborn.

And may Kenya awaken,

Not tomorrow—

But now.

Linda Mwananchi!

Linda Taifa!

Liberate Kenya!

©Bunguswa™