The nation dies

The nation dies
when basic needs become luxuries
when education becomes a privilege
when health is not a nation’s priority
when White Collar Crimes are sought
and are publicly defended, excused
are the shortcuts to becoming affluent,
the shortcuts to grabbing state power
but offences of the suffering masses
are classified as high state corruption
and the offenders publicly shamed –
the nation suffers an abortive death.

And the nation dies
when speaking truth to power
is considered a treasonous crime
when hospitals become deathtraps
when schools and universities are
the institutions where future looters
are prepped how to fail the nation
when elections are not conducted
to represent the will of the people
when worshipping misleaders
becomes the only route to success –
the nation dies a premature death.

Still, the nation dies
when politics becomes a profession
and not a service to the nation, people
when journalists become accomplices
of the government, their propagandists
when justice becomes an extension
of the executive, not a separate arm
when becoming an MP is to represent
oneself and loved ones, not the people
when peace, not equal rights, is what
politicians preach after failing people –
the nation is brutally assassinated.

Yes, the nation dies
when mismanagement of resources
misappropriation of funds influence,
control the minds of state functionaries
when the functions of government
are misplaced, misdirected, lost
when the people do not benefit
from the resources of the nation
when all our leaders give us are
borehole water, blackouts, poverty
inhumane living conditions, hunger –
the nation dies a sanguinary death.

And then the nation dies
when a people are fragmented
when fragmented fragments
of the fragments from which
other fragments are fragmented
which make other fragments
from which further fragments
will be fragmentedly fragmented
from the original fragments –
one fragment becomes so powerful
then fragments the other fragments –
the nation is finally entombed.