Kettle has a loud voice and he uses it well. He takes advantage of every opportunity to remind the world of how black the pot is.

When he is called to make a speech at a gathering, he turns it into a campaign of calumny against pot. He says pot is a useless and corrupt entity that cannot be trusted to cook the soup.

As a proof he reminds us that pot has been sitting on the stove for 16 long years and the soup is still not ready. He plays on our emotions. He says our generation and the ones yet unborn will die of hunger if we don’t get pot off the stove and place him there.

Kettle has become so popular. Images of him litter newspapers and billboards. They sing his name on radio and television for hours on end. He commands a battalion of followers on Facebook and Twitter. “Kettle is the change we need”, that’s the new bug in town.

The elders gathered at the village square last night to decide who should sit on the stove. Kettle’s supporters are loud and unruly as usual. They won’t even let the elders speak.

When Obida, the village mad man got an opportunity to speak, he jolted everyone with his questions.

Shaking like a tree in the wind, he said: “What is the difference between kettle and pot? Why do we condemn pot and canonize kettle when they are both black? Why is kettle so desperate to sit on the stove he once destroyed? In all his years in the kitchen, what has kettle done to show that he deserves to sit on the stove? And if he means what he says why won’t he attend the debate to tell us what he will do differently?”

A loud silence descended on the square when Obika finished. The elders scratched their heads. Women and youths spoke in low tones.

As Obika got up to leave, he broke the silence with these words. “I refuse to be led by the nose. I don’t like pot but kettle has to give me a better reason to vote for him.” but as the records show, Pot has done far better than kettle ever attempted in the past.

A crowd thronged after him.

The moral of the story: Think before you vote!