War is the sport of every soldier

 A drum lad singing patriotic songs

 Sporting combatants, spur national pride

 Celebrants disarming cowboy rebels

In this essay I will be biased, for I believe the words ofRobert Fisk, the veteran British journalist; he avows that reporters covering the Palestinian-Israeli conflict who try to give a balanced story tendto "normalize a bloody war." I seek to generate debate as to whether or notgovernments need armies. What is the role of the army when it is needed? Isit to defend territorial integrity? Is it to suppress internal insurgency? Isit to engage in expansionist excursions? My tone may be militant, for thisessay is not limited to a literary discourse: it is intended also to prick theconsciousness of the reader.

Rudyard Kipling is perhaps the best known English poet ofthe military. His poetry celebrated the might and adventure of the Britisharmy. It is a poetry that offers insight into Great Britain's imperialtravelogue and the colonial legacy that is partly to blame for themilitarization of central and eastern Africa and elsewhere on the continent.

In 2011, the largely-Christian South, will decide, in areferendum, whether to remain in a united Sudan with the largely MuslimNorth. The war in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is partly due to themarginalization of minority Rwandese tribes who find themselves removed fromtheir kin by colonial boundaries. It is this colonial legacy I alluded to when I wrote "OhKipling, must this testament torment us?" (Poeticlicense, in the Sunday Standard of October 7, 2007).

If Rudyard Kipling was an ideological writer, he was a greatpoet. In his poem The Fabulist, he writes,

                 Men write in fables as old Aesop did

                Jesting at that which none will name aloud

 Here he elevatespoetry to the highest of pedestals, away from other forms of art likejournalism and the spoken word. That separation must be audible, for poetryengages with the mind.

The legendary Nigerian "born" poet, Christopher Okigbo, is ahighly difficult literary personage; we may be forgiven if we choose to avoidhim. He contended that poetry could not be understood by non-poets. And hechallenged the stereotype of the African poet as a patronizing European conceptthat limited the achievement of the African artist. Like the Greek God Pan, Okigbo was half-human andhalf-spirit. Historians seek to understand him as a spirit, but it is to theother half that I now turn for inspiration. When Christopher Okigbo becamedisillusioned with a government that had betrayed the liberation struggle, hepresented himself as a martyr to redeem Africa. In my poetry, you encounter himas outspoken, committed and brave.

How I wish writers were truthful to their noble calling andremained insulated from governments that unwittingly injure their nationalpride.

In another poem, T.S.Eliot, I have written, "By the shoresof Lake Victoria, I wept." The evocation of the "lake" in this poem points to aparticular setting. It also evokes a certain historical attachment.  In the same way, we findJomo Kenyatta evoking a mountain in his Facing Mt. Kenya. Throughout the history of mankind, literary custodians haveused geographical sensibilities, as depicted in art, to preserve a people'scultural heritage. Therefore, I find it disheartening for a government officerto invite journalists and disavow our territorial integrity in favour of aforeigner.

Why is the government treating the annexation of itsterritory as a mere rattling of the sabres? Is it not sacrilegious for anyoneto contemplate annexing Kenyan land? Uganda has literally invaded and seizedthe Kenyan Island of Migingo in Lake Victoria; it is an explosive issuethat might light other fires under our feet if it is not addressed decisively.

But President Yoweri Museveni needs unravelling. He hasruled Uganda with an iron fist for 23 years. In Southern Sudan, he still bears theburden of proof, to acquit his government of claims of involvement in the death of their leader Dr. John Garang. Dr. Garangwas perhaps contemporary Africa's reincarnation of Amilcar Cabral. PresidentMuseveni should not be allowed to use Kenya to endear himself to Ugandans orreinvent his stay in power. He needs to be stopped from behaving like a streetcowboy riding a horse without a bridle.

Politicians are showing disaffection in a matter that offersstudents and the public a practical study in international relations and theprinciple of sovereignty.  Where is thelogic in shrugging off and pouring cold water on Kofi Annan, with ahypocritical whimper of sovereignty, and yet failing to act on an aggressor?

A young plebeian told reporters on television that theUgandans are being abetted by Kenyans. That must be the ultimate grandbetrayal. I am less inclined to buy into this line of thinking, for it borderson treason.

However, I will be candid, even scurrilous. The inaction bythis government must reawaken our political consciousness. We must not continueto be held captive by an improvised amalgamation of disorientated politicians.They must be halted, if only for ceding our territory. Revolutions are fired bya just cause. If dispossession (of land) is not, what is?

Every revolution has its ideological few, within which arefound countless quislings. They try to derail the cause. They must be named andshamed. The Kenyan liberation struggle was fought on all fronts: intellectual,political and military. This repertoire of resilience, energy and enterprisecannot be depleted by a wishful government that is doubtful of its legitimacy.

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