UoN, Taifa Hall: Site of departure, site of return for Ngugi wa Thiong'o

One of the protestors wearing a police helmet after it was snatched from a police officer during protests over the killing of blogger Albert Ojwang. [Collins Kweyu, Standard]

This morning, barring prospects of goons patrolling city streets, all roads lead to Taifa Hall at the University of Nairobi (UoN), where a long-awaited celebration of the life and work of Mwalimu Ngugi wa Thiong’o, will be hosted.

The day-long fete, which is free and open to the public will feature films, performance, readings, tributes and panels in honour of the nation’s pioneering and one of Africa and the world’s most celebrated authors.

This is a fitting tribute, and an appropriate homecoming for the author, for it is at the UoN that he started his long life journey in writing and teaching, pushing for change within the academy, the nation and the world.

But Taifa Hall holds deeper meaning for the departed author.

It was here that he returned in July 2004, after 22 years in exile, to address the nation. Many years earlier, in 1969, it was Jaramogi Oginga Odinga’s quest to address students at Taifa Hall that precipitated Ngugi’s first exile, when he left to protest against shrinking academic freedom at the institution.

Such idealism sounds like such a distant dream in a world that’s growing rapidly paranoid about ideas that challenge the status quo.

While Donald Trump may seem like a natural target for such censure, many Americans are applauding his actions as he pulls international students from the classroom, and hurls them into detention camps.

Mwalimu Ngugi may have spent his last 40 years away from his motherland, but it is here that his heart was.

His return, through today’s celebration, completes his life’s cycle.