Juliani took to his X account to share briefly how it felt writing his popular song ‘’Machozi ya Jana’’
He says before he embarked on writing the lyrics to the song, He got harrowing details about Willy Kimani’s Last days
‘’Before we did this song, I got harrowing details about Willie Kimanis last days. It was the most difficult song to write. ‘’ read the post
‘Clouds ni grey, nguo ni black, macho ni red, colors za pain. It takes a long day kujuwa life ni short,’ goes part of the song’s lyrics.
On June 30 2016, Mr. Willie Kimani, lawyer at the NGO International Justice Mission; Josphat Mwendwa, one of Mr. Kimani’s client; and their taxi driver, were found dead on the bank of a river 73 km north-east of Nairobi. The three men went missing on June 23, after a court appointment at Makovo Law Court, 60 km South-east of Nairobi.
The artist says it was not easy balancing artistic integrity and emotions at the time,
‘’Capturing the emotions of the time and maintaining the Artistic integrity of my writing was a delicate balance. Years later, it maintains its freshness.’’ Further read his post
He says the song is purely dedicated to families that have lost their loved ones to extrajudicial killings
‘’Machozi ya jana loosely translated to “Yesterday tears” was a ralling call for justice to prevail. In a society that, extra judicial killing, forced disappearance is the order of the day. Justice seems elusive. Mothers who’ve lost sons, sons who’ve lost fathers, and so on.’’
The song aims to re-ignite and expand public debate on the need to have a radically transformed police service in Kenya.
The song is meant to inspire a powerful movement that generates police reforms.
