Let's honour Ngugi wa Thiong’o first before we cry foul over Nobel prize for Literature overlook

 The sad thing about Ngugi is that he has never been honoured in Kenya Photo: Courtesy

Towards the end of last week, Kenyans were mourning. That should not even be news because Kenyans are always united in grief, and hardly like it when there is a long period of happiness or joy when they can just eat, drink and make merry.

Every so often, Kenyans, led by politicians, become united, and start talking about things such as ‘We Are One’, ‘our Beloved Country’, ‘Fallen Heroes’... and send condolences all over the place.

Of course, life cannot just be about happiness. Again, there is nothing wrong with a little sorrow and grief once in a while. Even in the Bible, it is written that there is a time for everything, including a time to be drunk and time to drive while drunk. A time to take bribes and a time to bank the loot. A time to steal from public coffers and a time to deny any wrongdoing.

Thus, mourning is not so out of place. Only that towards the end of last week, Kenyans were grieving over the death of something they have never owned, or even nurtured because people are so busy talking at each other, and blaming one another and calling each other names and do not have time to think about anything else.

But there is a twist to last week’s grief. It was not new per se, and has become a ritual which starts with celebrations by Kenya’s literary dons who can smell a good book when it is light years away. When a writer is still conceptualising an idea, they will take to the bars to gossip about how good it will be or to newspapers and proclaim: “So and so will write a brilliant book...” As if they are in the writer’s mind!

Every year, around the month of September, Literary Kenya goes through this ritual, which includes lots of pontification by literary dons and social commentators, who pen tens of thousands of words which inspire nothing but hope, and give Kenyans high expectations. If you listen to them, or read their articles during that period, you feel very patriotic and start wondering why some people can never see all the good things that Magical Kenya has to offer.

Sadly, every year, this ritual leaves Kenyans seething with murderous rage — and with bruised egos. Around that time, Kenyans start looking forward to Ngugi wa Thiong’o winning the Nobel Prize for Literature. During that time, literature dons and literary heads only talk about Ngugi and Nobel, and in the process they write articles explaining why he deserves it, and even why he is going to get it, ‘this time around’.

And every year, they get disappointed like it happened last week and they start cursing and sobbing and hurling invectives at people they have never met, and swearing that Ngugi is being looked down upon either because “the West” is envious since he is just too good (because Kenyans are always just too good) or because of his race.

In 2011, a Swedish won and Kenyans were not a happy lot. Come the following year, the prize went to a Chinese, and there was a collective sound of disappointment because Kenyans were sure that it was Ngugi’s. In 2013, a female Canadian writer got the literature award and there was gnashing of teeth considering that Kenyans were completely certain that the award will be flown home aboard Kenya Airways plane.

In 2014, more tears flowed across Kenya’s literary circles as the Nobel Committee decided that a French novelist, Jean Patrick Modiano, deserved the prize. Last year, things were even worse nearer home when Svetlana Alexievich from Belarus was given the award for her “polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time.”

Last week, insult was added to Kenyans’ collective injury when the award was given to Bob Dylan, an American musician!

To paraphrase an American satirist, Dylan got the award not for his words on a page, but for his words on a stage!

Of course Kenyans were mad again.

Just so you may know, the winners I have listed above had at some point or the other been honoured in their countries, or regions with (literary) awards and Nobel was not their first prize.

The sad thing about Ngugi is that he has never been honoured in Kenya. What is stopping Kenya from honouring him before Kenyans can start getting mad when he misses out on the Nobel?