…in the war between falsehood and truth, falsehood may win the first battle, but truth wins the war. Truth is always strong, no matter how weak it looks, and falsehood is always weak no matter how strong it looks.
STEVE Mark Misori in Kenya
SHATTERED dreams, forlorn human beings, oblique future and massive despair is what anyone would meet on any door of prison anywhere in Africa as inmates try to cope up with their latest titles.
As a correction centre, the prisoners remain hopeful that one day they would walk out to freedom and meet their loved ones. They remain optimistic that one time in point they would be set free and start their lives all over again.
What is disturbing is that some of these prisoners are so much aware that they were tried and found ‘guilty’ for crimes they never committed. They were victims of illegal prosecution procedures, mistaken identity, unreliable witnesses and weak constitutional thresholds.
Just why would you wrongfully find someone ‘guilty’ and sentence them to years in prison? This is the kind of question that ‘Solemn Voice’ finds irrelevant though relevant.
Their stay in detention and finally prison would only succeed in fuelling their bitterness and hardening their position on the role of justice in reconciliation and integration.
It disturbs me though how such individuals would cope up with the rest when they finish their jail terms. They were unfairly tried and never deserved to be in prison. One thing that is worth highlighting is that for justice to be done, both the offender and the offended must be convinced of the trial process.
A number of prisoners have been consumers of unfair trial and their subsequent sentencing has been based on unreliable witnesses who have received hefty payments as a result of making false testimonies. As I have always believed , ‘you will be judged by what you finish, not by what you start.’
In the war between falsehood and truth, falsehood may win the first battle, but truth wins the war. Truth is always strong, no matter how weak it looks, and falsehood is always weak no matter how strong it looks.
Any moral being should be worried whenever they are linked to impunity and falsehood. If you are not scared of impunity then you are not a human being. Technically, it is smart to be ‘smart’ in Africa. But for how long will your ‘smartness’ see the light of day?
Honesty, as Thomas Jefferson says, is the first chapter of the book of wisdom. A lie will add to your troubles, subtract from your energy, multiply your difficulties and divide your effectiveness. It is crucial that man sticks with the truth for we are called to be true witnesses of Christ.
Many people – friends and foes alike are languishing in jail due to false witnesses who wanted to reap out of such false testimonies. Such characters must be reminded that they have a cardinal duty to side with justice and not injustice.
God created each one of us in His own image and likeness and making false testimonies against anyone is truly a vote of no confidence against God. For how long will you celebrate out of the suffering of the other?
A lie never lives to be old. This is because the truth exists as only lies are created. The very truth shines in darkness. Be the light that illuminates the challenges of our time. You can still change the world to be a better place for the people of God.
Art Sepulveda convinces me when she says, ‘ Be a history maker and a world shaker. Go where you have never gone before. There is always room at the top.’ Touch the people in your own way by sticking to the truth of God.
The writer is a Kenyan from Homa Bay County who is a teacher by profession and a writer. He has since written the book ‘Village Under Siege’ and his second book English Ideal’ is yet to be launched.
Steve is currently writing for The Independent Observer and his column ‘Solemn Voice.’
Currently, he is employed by the Kenya’s Teachers’ Service Commission and has taught English language and social sciences alongside literature for the last seven years. As a teacher of English, he has earned titles of good performance in national examinations and assignment.
Steve Mark Misori is a writer by profession having undertaken a diploma writing course with the Writer’s Bureau- Manchester, England. He is undergoing an undergraduate degree course in education/ arts – English literature and he is expected to graduate later this year.
