Village Hotel That Hosts Political Analysts

It is a hotel frequented by primary school dropouts who value their dignity. They go there to listen to old men regale stories of yore. Therefore it is common place to see young men mingle with old men as they engage in political banter.

They value their dignity for multiple reasons. Chief among them is that these young men dropped out of school not because there was no school fees, but the thought of rebelling against their parents seemed to be good when they dropped out of school.

Now many years on they were secretly feeling that they had made the wrong mistake but had the dignity not to admit their mistakes in public. And so they went to the village hotel.

The hotel is a combination of subtle humor.

It is made up of low level tables. The kind that reach just above your knees when you are standing, never mind that you are less than six feet tall.

The tables are three, two put next to each other while the third is put on the other side of the wall.

The seats are long forms which give the impression that they were made for four year old kids. That means that their height is just above the knee. So it is a discomforting situation when old and the young meet and sit to discuss politics.

There is only one waiter who serves the unschooled customers who patronize the hotel. The prices of dishes offered are pocket friendly considering that a cup of tea goes for two shillings and fifty cents while an andazi costs three shillings.

When I once tasted the tea I was held back by the taste. It tasted more like water that the tea it was supposed to be. Milk and sugar had been sprinkled, so to say.

At the counter is a glass wall that allows you to see where the owner who also dubs as the cashier stores mandazi. The kitchen is behind the cashier. There is a small window that allows the cashier to order food from the kitchen which happens to be behind him.

In the kitchen there is only one man who prepares all the menu that is offered in that hotel.

This hotel itself can only host a maximum of 15 people at a time.

The patrons come in to discuss politics since that is the only unifying agenda.

The hotel owner buys the national Swahili newspaper that serves his customers well. 

 

You see, the old men cannot read English papers because when they were supposed to be in class they were busy fighting for Kenya's independence. The young men can neither read nor understand English what with having told their parents that 'tikio thuruari'. Meaning that Education cannot be equated to clothes and therefore not important.

In the hotel arguments abound. The arguments emanate from the Swahili newspaper stories they read.

Political stories with national appeal are debated, analyzed and the verdict is given, from the village view. 

 

Since the hotel is patronized in the evenings when people are relaxing it is always noisy at this time as the patrons engage each other on verbal wars on various political issues. Recently I visited the hotel and realized that the owner has put up a colour television which comes in handy when parliament is in session. 

 

Unfortunately the audience always hears most of the words in passing because internalizing and interpreting the parliamentary English language is a tall order. Therefore you will find the village hotel audience gazing at the screen as lawyers in parliament engage in interpretations of law and such legalese language.

Sometimes there is someone who will volunteer tell the other patrons what is happening in parliament but the meaning of what is actually happening in parliament is lost in translation. Often by a big margin of error.