Nyayo Torture Chambers Poem by alexander opicho

There was a house in Kenya
Called Nyati house
Nyati means Buffalo
But was not buffalo house
It was purely house of torture.

It was in the city of Nairobi
Its basement taller than the storey
It was darker and horrific
It was built by tax money
Collected from the peasants
By the powers that be
Nyati house was built by the government
When Daniel Moi was the president
He thought torture can replace democracy
He had to built torture house
Staffed by the special branch
Official technocrats of torture.

Torture technicians were black and tall
Literate to anti opposition politics
Democracy sent them to nausea
It was filthy and distaste
They relished sycophancy with passion
They meted torture with tribal scales
Universities were an eyesore
Graduates were an open sore
They bothered special branch
A jigger in the nail of your toes.

Nyati house had all forms of torture;
Excommunication
Ostracism
Hunger
Artificial lice
Bed bugs
Beatings
Pliers on your balls
Pincers on your breasts
Standing in water full to your waist
For days or a fortnight
Drinking your urine
Getting sick without treatment
Mental disparagement
Slapping
Kicking
Loneliness
Freezing cold
Spying
Counter spying
Mockery
Withdraw of your certificates
Dying
Resurrecting like a phoenix.

When you come out
You had one political poem to sing;
Jogoo!
Jogoo!
Jogoo!
Jogoo!
Jogoo!