Orengo’s Warning: The Stick is still in the House!

By Opwonya N. (2025)

I have listened carefully to Orengo.
This is what he is saying.

The Black Colonial State is like an abusive husband – one who beats and starves his wives.
Today, this abusive husband is beating his Kikuyu wife, while offering a brief reprieve to his Luo wife, tossing a few scraps of ringo into the Luo sufuria.

And in response, there is overwhelming excitement among the Luo.
Cries of “At last, we are eating!” fill the air.

But in the midst of this euphoria, Orengo reminds us:
The stick that the Black Colonial State uses to beat its wives has not been thrown away.
It is still in the house, being sharpened and polished — right now used against the Kikuyu wife.
And with the slightest change in the State’s moods, that same stick will once again fall upon the Luo — perhaps this time with final, devastating force.

Yet the small scraps tossed into the Luo sufuria have caused the very blindness the Black Colonial State desired.
“We are now eating, what does Orengo want?“
Or,
“There is nothing serious in Orengo’s complaints…“

But remember:
When Uhuru and Ruto rose to power, and Murkomen and his peers were drunk on their new authority, Orengo stood on the floor of Parliament and warned them:
“I have seen this before. These governments eat their own children. Within a year, you will be crying.”

And so it came to pass.

On the political battlefield of the Black Colonial State, there are always at least two balls in play:

• The dark ball of violence, and

• The bright ball of economic bribes, also called “development.”

When the Black Colonial State finds it difficult to score with the dark ball- when open violence, as during the GenZ riots, is too costly – it rolls out the bright, dazzling ball of “development.”
And immediately, the eyes of the short-sighted tacticians are captured.

But the strategists are not fooled.
They keep their gaze steady on the dark ball, knowing it carries the deeper, long-term danger- the existential threat.

In every society, strategists – those with long vision – are few.
Tacticians – short-sighted but energetic – are many.
(Mia acam chut…)

A blessed society is one where strategists rise to leadership.
A cursed society is one where the tacticians – brave, loud, but blind – seize the top positions.

NB:
Having a strategic mind or a tactical mind has nothing to do with intelligence, formal education, or cleverness.
It is a matter of natural endowment – of leadership talent.
To make matters worse, those with tactical minds often show great physical bravery. And it is often this bravery that propels them to leadership, taking seats that should be reserved for the strategically gifted – to the ultimate ruin of the society.

Both tacticians and strategists are vital to any project or nation.
But tacticians must be led by strategists – never the other way around.