Ms. Angela Martin, Head, of Culture Division, African Union Commission,
Dr. Wale Okediran, Secretary General, PAWA, African poets present,
All invited guests.
Hamjambo! Asalam Aleykum, Habari gani?
My name is Dr. Hamisi Babusa. I am a Kiswahili poet, author, CEO Babusa TV and lecturer of Kiswahili at Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya.
I am one of the judges for the Kiswahili category.
My fellow judge is Esther Mngodo from Tanzania.
First of all, we wish to thank PAWA for giving us this noble task of judging Kiswahili poems for the PAWA awards.
When we started reading the poems we were carried away by the styles, rhythms, form, rhyming and great use of Kiswahili vocabulary to pass the messages with great poetic mastery.
We forgot that we were supposed to judge and kept on enjoying the Kiswahili poems that were flowing like stream water.
All the Kiswahili poets from Kenya and Tanzania were great poets, but we told ourselves that there must be winners. So we used the evaluation mode of checking their poetic language, message and mastery of verses and rhyming.
When we started reading the poems we were carried away by the styles, rhythms, form, rhyming and great use of Kiswahili vocabulary to pass the messages with great poetic mastery.
We forgot that we were supposed to judge and kept on enjoying the Kiswahili poems that were flowing like stream water
After great analysis by the two of us, we came up with the following long list:
Abdallah Savonge – MOYO WAHEMEWA
Ali Mohammed – KILIO CHA SISIMIZI
Bashiru Abdallah – WINO WA DHAHABU
Djibril Adamu – KIPETO CHA RISALA
Hamisi Kissamvu – DIWANI YA MKANYAJI
Justine Kakoko – SAUTI YA HAMASA
Rashid Othman Ali – MAPINDUZI YA KALAMU
Uledi Bryan – MWANANGU KUA UYAONE
After getting the long list, we discovered again that all the poets are great masters of verses and rhymes. But where there is a competition there must be a winner even though all of them are great poets.
So, we sat again and analysed the collections of poems. We put the judging bar higher so that we can sieve and get the best. We said we have to get the best Kiswahili poet with variety of verse styles and themes.
After the second sieving we got the short list as follows:
1. Ali Mohammed: Kilio cha Sisimizi
2. Bashiru Abdallah: Wino wa Dhahabu
3. Djibril Adamu: Kipeto cha Risala
4. Rashid Othman Ali: Mapinduzi ya Kalamu
After this step, we had to analyze the poems further so that we can get the overall winner.
After rereading and reanalyzing the poems again, we were pleased to announce the winner of PAWA AFRICAN POETRY PRIZE (KISWAHILI CATEGORY) as Bashiru Abdallah with his collection titled WINO WA DHAHABU, which means THE GOLDEN INK in English.
Bashiru mesmerized us with his golden pen that produced golden ink and golden Kiswahili poems that carried the day.
CONGRATULATIONS TO BASHIRU ABDALLAH!
Thank you very much.
Asante sana.
