To mark Kenya at 50, use one book to light a ‘jiko

By Peter Kimani

In a country whose top leadership thinks newspapers are only fit for wrapping meat, it is unsurprising that the Kenya at 50 celebrations make no mention of authors who helped construct this nation.

Why is there no talk about our literary signposts and the writers who defined our time: Grace Ogot, Wahome Mutahi, David Maillu, Marjorie Oludhe McGoye, Meja Mwangi, Margaret Ogolla, Francis Imbuga, Ngugi wa Thiong’o?

Incidentally, Ngugi’s seminal novel, Weep Not, Child, marks 50 years since its publication in January. But no one is talking about the book, or any other for that matter, from our literary forebears. Not even a university department has organised a forum where we can talk about our literary achievements as a people.

That silence is very comforting; it adequately conveys the indifference and cynicism the ruling elite hold towards the arts and artists.

That’s why when Ngugi was recently honoured by the University of California, Irvine, for his life-long endeavours in writing and education, tributes came from Ghana’s President John Mahama and South Africa’s Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer, among others. None from Kenya.

Tomorrow, the University of Dar es Salaam will honour Ngugi with an honorary doctorate for his contribution to African literature. That will be his ninth – the tenth has been offered by German’s University of Bayreuth. The doctorates from Kenya? Zero.

If William Ruto thinks newspapers are only fit for wrapping meat, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Government collected all books and championed their use to light jikos to mark Kenya at 50.