Orengo's humiliation at a funeral broke norms that hold societies

Siaya Governor James Orengo when he appeared before the Senate CPIC Committee at Parliament on June 9, 2025  [File, Standard]

There is a rich node between literature and lived realities. The recent humiliation of Siaya Governor James Orengo by youth at a funeral in the county evokes memories of the tragic events in Chinua Achebe’s seminal novel, Things Fall Apart.  

Achebe borrowed both the title of his book and its closing philosophy from WB Yeats’ famous poem, “The Second Coming.” At the start of the book is the familiar citation, which I quote with some license, “Turning and turning in the widening gyre. The falcon cannot hear the falconer. Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold. Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.”