Of Kanumba lessons, recklessness and the wages of sin

HAPPY MOMENTS. . . . The late Steven Kanumba pictured with Lulu,an actor, who is being held by police over his death.

“Dust to dust” is the destiny of humanity and though it is painful it seems no one will escape from it. What makes even more mysterious is the fact that no one knows the day and time. In most cases, there are no warning signs to inform other people or the person who is about to finish his or her journey on earth of the impending departure.

This has made death more painful because today you are talking to a friend or relative then the other minute you are told that the person is no more. No matter how many deaths you come across in your family or of your friends, there is no way we can get used to it. It becomes more painful to those who would have remained.

We don't have proof yet whether the process of dying is painful, unless you have been involved in an accident but we know for sure that the death of a person is very difficult to stomach for many. Many people usually leave everything to fate; some will blame God for it while others will begin pointing fingers.

Tanzania was recently plunged into mourning after the sudden demise one of its gallant sons, who fought a hard fight to lift the flag high. The sudden and unexpected death of Steven Kanumba, who was popularly known as The Great in the film industry, was a heavy blow to an industry that was just starting to discover its feet, thanks to him.

The angel of death seems to have been busy in this country as many prominent people have been falling by the wayside one by one. But, it was the death of the movie hero that touched the hearts of many people. The death left a lot of broken hearts as his gap will prove very difficult to fill.

Kanumba was undoubtedly an unofficial ambassador of this country to the whole world as his films had started penetrating the African market, winning the hearts of many. His life can be likened to a flower whose life is usually cut short as it is plucked for decoration or given as a gift to loved ones. Its only crime will be that it would have blossomed and will be beautiful.

Dear reader, I write this column with a heavy heart after helplessly looking at some beloved people passing away but with nothing at all to do to prevent it. Likewise, so many people are still trying to come to terms with the sad reality that their loved ones are no more. A human being’s life is like a journey, it has the beginning and an ending.

It is a journey full of trials and tribulations. It is also full of love, hate, deception and so on. The Bible in one of the verses mentions that the wages of sin is death and since we have been given the right to choose, sometimes we become our own enemies and contribute to our own deaths. This, however, has over the years been overlooked by humanity and when ever a person dies, whether he was a criminal or a social misfit, many people usually choose to ignore all that and sometimes come to great pains in trying to paint the dead as a saint.

Like I have mentioned earlier on, death remains a mystery to humanity and a lot of differing views have been held concerning the after life, but what is important to note is that life on its own is sacred and should be respected.

We have had a lot of people who try to help God by shortening theirs or other people's lives. In fact, Africans have never accepted that a person can just die without a cause. I am saying so because that they believe a person should live his or her life to the fullest and once one fails to do that then there is always a witch involved. This has seen societies coining a saying that can be loosely translated into Swahili as kunapotokea kifo lazima kuna mchawi aliyehusika.

This has seen society deliberately ignoring the contributions of a person towards his or her own death but concentrate on witch hunting. The death of our movie star falls under such circumstances. I can’t comment much on this issue as it is in the courts, but the police are holding his girlfriend over the unexpected death.

Whether she is guilty or not, at this moment is not important because we leave it to the police and courts of law to do their work. What is important is that other artists learn form this incident and live a straight life. There is no need for someone to continue hogging the limelight for the wrong reasons.

Most of our artists in this country think that for them to be famous they have to live a reckless life. That is far from it and the media should learn to report the truth on them without fear or favour. There is no need to cry over spilt milk. What has happened has happened and what is left is for those who are there to put their houses in order.

We have a lot of artists in this country who are well known for wrong reasons. They are always in the papers and I believe they enjoy courting controversy. What they don’t know is that they are just digging their own graves.

What our fallen movie hero did cannot be condoned either. No one is denied the right to mix and mingle and have any relationship with anyone in this world but the taboo he did led to his death. Many people have been commenting on social website about his relationship with someone he groomed and according to many was still a child. Many people condemned him for it and were wondering as to when the relationship actually started. Speculation is rife that it might have started long back when the actress was still a child.

Forgive me dear reader, for going against a long held belief that we have to respect the dead and not talk any evil about them. What I am only doing dear reader is to try and make sure that the death of this great star be a lesson to various other artists who think that recklessness in life is the ticket to stardom. What they should know is that they are only digging their graves deeper and deeper until six feet under the ground.

Just have a look at some of the posts by different people on Facebook where they were discussing this issue. Names of the contributors have been removed for obvious reasons.

. . . trust me swala la a man of 28 years kumla mtoto wa miaka 17 imetosha awe fataki I don’t care kama utaniita mswahili au nini ila kama usiku wote huo unadhani huyo mtoto alikuwa mlinzi wake au?? It’s obvious something was going on.

. . .. true man was sin, tena mama yake inabidi aifungulie mashtaka familly ya Kanumba kwa mtoto wao kumharibu binti yake na kumdhallsha pia.

. . . .hahah kwani dokta cheni kafa kisa sijui kasukumwa na lulu?? thats why we are blaming him we unaimagine wakiact kwenye ile muvi kanamwambia uncle naenda shule kalikuwa kadogo then later anakuja mwambia baby I love u??? Hata kama ni kuwa fan vitu vingine sio uvifumbie macho

…. Me ni shabik mkubwa wa The Great, then nimecktka sana nilipopata taarifa kuwa amefariki, so katika ukweli tunasema kweli wala haina upendeleo, jamaa ana makosa coz hakustahil lulu kuwa mpenzi wake kwa sasababu ya umri, amefanya mengi mazuri but hii ndo aibu yake!

These are just contributions from wananchi who thought silence on the issue was not the best way. To tell you the truth dear reader, I was also one of the fans of The Great and he was pregnant with talent. Actually he made us proud and we will leave long to cherish him and his works but it is unfortunate that he had to go this way.

Let it stick into artists’ heads that HIV/AIDS is there and can kill. Being a player when it comes to love is equally dangerous as violence can lead to someone’s death, not to mention the virus. There is no need for someone to continue wearing the bad girl tag and becoming notorious of hopping from one bad to another.

It is a shame that many of the so called artists cannot contain fame and it leads them astray. Let me give free advice to you dear reader that life is not a rehearsal and once you destroy it, there is no turning back but you have to face the consequences. We are our own enemies so let’s guard jealously against self destruction. And, again let’s remember the wages of sin is death. God bless you all.

bongoblast@thisday.co.tz/ymeniah.blogspot.com/0657651300