By CEO

Last week, I wrote about my meeting with Harambee Stars’ captain, Dennis Oliech, just before they left for their World Cup qualifiers in Calabar, Nigeria. Although I wished our national football team well, I harboured doubts about Oliech and co beating the Super Eagles on their home ground.

These doubts were heightened when we saw members of our national team training in the dusty compound of a primary school. I knew then, that the soccer match would be a massacre in Calabar — incidentally, this is the title of a chapter in Achebe’s book, There Was a Country.

Then Kenyans on Twitter (KOT) took the matter into their own hands and started the hashtag #someonetellnigeria, where they proceeded to register their displeasure at how the Nigerians were treating our football stars.

So enthusiastically was this hashtag taken up that it was soon trending worldwide. The tweet that impressed me the most was the one that urged Nigerians to treat our players the way Kenyan house helps treat Nollywood movies.

I think our footballers realised that Kenyans had their backs and what followed was a display that left the African champions in shock. To many Kenyans, me included, Harambee Stars won that game. The Super Eagles equalised through what are known as the Fergie minutes. If you do not know what Fergie minutes are, then I am addressing the wrong person.

Kenyans in search of a new hero

The presidential petition that just ended at the Supreme Court has presented Kenyans with a new heroine: Kethi Kilonzo. Political adversaries on social media have closed ranks and are agreed that this young lady has got what it takes to play in the big leagues.

Going by how she presented herself in the highest court in the land, Kenyans now believe that she has washed her hands and is ready to dine with kings (you will notice that I am still making references to Chinua Achebe’s works).

Kethi, who now has several Facebook pages dedicated to her, wrestled with the some of the best legal minds this country has to offer, some of them contemporaries of her father, senior counsel Mutula Kilonzo, and did quite well for herself.

I also noticed that in some social media conversations, some men were talking about asking for young Kethi’s hand in marriage or marrying her off to young men in their communities. Surely, is that all that some men can think of when confronted with such a beautiful mind? Is a woman just a mere object to be married off? I believe we can do better than this.

Betrothals aside, Kethi’s ‘canonisation’ betrays a society hungry for new heroes. It would appear that our leadership, political or otherwise, has failed us to an extent that we are always on the lookout for new leaders/heroes. I hope our Kethi will take her new mantle seriously and will not disappoint Kenyans like other heroes we have had before.

There was a great writer

I am still reeling from the shock of Chinua Achebe’s death. I know the man was ailing but that was not enough cushion when news of his death started filtering in.

For my ‘O’ Levels, I had the pleasure of studying the evergreen classic Things Fall Apart, a fine example of what a fine prose writer Achebe was. It has been said that he wrote with a smile, and I entirely agree. While other writers labour to bring out humour lines, a light touch was second nature to Achebe.

One could argue that the Igbo culture, from which Achebe heavily borrowed, has a rich sense of humour, but then you have to give it to the man for his rendering of proverbs.

One of my favourite proverbs in Things Fall Apart is used when Okonkwo, the chief protagonist, has let success get into his head, and he is compared to the little Nza bird, who, after a heavy meal, challenged his Chi (personal god) to a fight. Every time I read this part, it leaves me shaking with quiet mirth.

It must be noted that this book has sold more than ten million copies and been translated into 50 different languages. Did I hear someone say phenomenal? Those of you who have read Achebe’s latest book, There was a Country, will know that the world would not have had the pleasure of reading Things Fall Apart had a typing firm in London had their way.

Achebe narrates that after he wrote his manuscript, he saw a London firm’s advert for typing services and since he wanted to present his publishers with ‘clean’ text, he sent his work to Britain.

The long and short of it is that it took a BBC journalist to prevail upon the typists to release the manuscript that was to be Things Fall Apart.

I have a number of anecdotes on Achebe but space does not allow me. Suffice it to say that I have mourned my favourite author sufficiently. Fare thee well, Chinua Achebe. You fought the good fight.