The Great African Literary Controversy

Ngugi wa Thiong'o has been at the center of literary controversy

A few years into his career,novelist James Ngugi shocked the literary world when he stopped writing in English  to write in his Kikuyu Vernacular.He was later to follow this radical shift with changing his name to Ngugi wa Thiong'o ,scrapping the English part of his African identity.

In many of his books that followed Ngugi fought injustices and pointed out mistakes  in  his mother-tongue ,plunging into what appears to be an  endless  controversy .He has also in his  career written numerous articles and essays  advocating for what he calls "freeing culture from Ethnocentrism" .

According to Ngugi,who recently published an installment of his lengthy childhood memoir,Dreams in a Time of War,,language and culture are part of the struggles aimed at moving the center from Europe ,and decolonizing  of the minds of the people.

"The tradition of Africans writing  in European language particularly those of the former  colonizers is clearly a product of of the fatal encounter between Africa and Europe ,"argues Ngugi in  his collection  of essays  entitled Moving the Center

In the book  Ngugi discusses in detail  the motivation behind his ardent advocacy  on language suggesting that language is entrenched in   a peoples culture.


The globally renowned scholar's pressing for  use  of people's own languages in  literature   has over time drawn criticism with some literary analysts and fellow scholars  on record saying 'Ngugi is fighting a losing battle".

Ngugi  adds that   literature in African languages suffers from a lack of strong tradition.

"Everyone  in the world has a language,either the language of his  or her parents or one adopted at birth at a later  stage in life,"writes Ngugi.He continues:"So when  we consider  English  as  a language  for the world,we are all drawing  from the languages and cultures in which we are rooted."

Ngugi's position on the matter of language has attracted interesting criticisms among them respected  Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe,and the two have had a long fight over the language in which African literature should be written.

In 1990   Achebe lashed at Ngugi  in an essay ,saying 'English is the most viable language  to represent African hopes and fears in literature.The essay ,republished in Achebe's latest book,The Education of a British-Protected Child, serves to re-affirm Achebe's unwavering stance .

As Ngugi describes Achebe's argument as 'fatalistic logic'  in Decolonizing the Mind,Achebe ,in 2009,described  Ngugi's argument as  comprising of 'fatal snags of the single-minded"


While Ngugi adfvocates for local languages only,Achebe supports  the use of English  and local languages as well.
 "The difference between  Ngugi  and myself on the issue of indigenous or European  languages is that while  Ngugi now believes it is either/or,I have always thought it was both,"Achebe said.

As the debate continues to rage,perhaps another notable difference  the two could be that while  Ngugi seems  angry and serious  in his essays,Achebe adopts irony and humor coupled with sayings and proverbs to drive his message home.

Also,Achebe's Politics and  Politicians of Language  could be a mischivous rejoinder to Ngugi's The Politics Of Language in African Literature ,a subtitle in Decolonising the Mind.

Hero Who Reclaimed Africa's Literary Desert

When Chinua  Achebe published his first novel,it suddenly occurred to the world that Africa could express herself through literature ,and in her own voice and terms.

An enduring masterpiece,Things Fall Apart ,published in 1958,received and continues to receive global acclaim


Chinua Achebe has confessed that his greatest motivation to become a writer was  the indignation he felt at  the skewed depictions of Africa by some English writers such as Joseph Conrad and Karen Blixen.


"The story of my people was not going to be like one of those written  by adventurous Europeans in which the white man was always the winner" Achebe said of  Things Fall Apart.

Before 1958 ,among others ,Joseph Conrad and Karebn Blixen  had painted Africa as  utterly exotic in what has come to be seen as  a deliberate attempt to attract European tourists and settlers to the continent,and raise financial prospects in return.

But Things Fall Apart ,which has since sold over  nine million copies worldwide  adequately told off Conrad's The Heart Of Darkness, and Blixen's Out Of Africa.

In their books both Conrad and Blixen  draw Africa as a continent without order with Blixen at one point likening her cook to her dog.

Educated in Nigeria and Britain,,Achebe read Conrad's The Heart Of Darkness for his degree,and was henceforth determined to counter the falsehoods .He would later--in an article --accuse Joseph Conrad of racism.
"The novelist  is a teacher  who needs to re-educate   people"Achebe said  in an article.

Born in 1930 among the Ibo People ,Achebe ,who also writes poetry,is probably Africa's most read and discussed writer.

During the Biafran War  that broke  out in 1966 with the abortive attempt to establish  an independent Republic of Biafra by Eastern  Ibos,Achebe put paid to  to the writing of his  sixth book,The Anthills Of  the Savanna to  publicize  his people's tribulations through poetry.His efforts culminated in  Beware Soul Brother ,a collection of poems  on the Ibo experience  in the three-year war.


The book apeared in the United States  of America as Chrismas in Biafra and Other Poems..When he published   A Man Of the People in 1966,he  was forced to flee to exile  as the novel  implicated him in a coup it preceded due to its prophetic ending.

Achebe escaped arrest narrowly and fled to The United States Of America

While in America ,he became editor of Okike,an influential  African literary magazine .He also became professor of English at Massachusetts at Amherst .

Achebe's other books include:Arrow Of God (Which he says is the novel he is most likely to be caught sitting to read again),and Chike  and The River ,which Achebe describes as 'a novel for boys'.

In 2001,Achebe published Home and Exile ,and most recently in 2010 ,The Education of a British-protected Child,in which he tells his own story growing under colonialism .

On his return to Nigeria in from exile in 1976,Achebe became professor of English at the university of Nigeria .And in 1990,he was involved in a fatal road accident  that would see him on a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

But although the tragic  accident  rendered his legs useless,Achebe continues to shake the literary world ,churning out ideas on social life politics and language.He has received dozens of accolades in international circles.

For this man ,it can be said,the center continues to hold.

Money:Solution to all problems or direction to all problems?

For a fortnight today,the media has devoted acres of space and airtime holding a spotlight to the life of a fortunate or unfortunate  millionaire,depending on your standpoint. Readers,listeners and viewers alike have  been told stories fronted  on various accounts that probably led to the demise of young,resilient Samuel Wanjiru.

While the death of Wanjiru remains shrouded in mystery, for now,money points to this death, with sociologists and editorials calling for a fresh approach in  helping people who get too  rich when they are too young to handle  the fortune.

In the build up to his death,Wanjiru's woes spilled out. Only this year,there was a divorce threat by his wife,Trizah,on grounds of a strained  relationship with her mother-in-law.However ,things appeared to cool down when,weeks ago,The couple was seen on TV and in the papers announcing their reconciliation.

In retrospect,it is now an open book that Wanjiru displayed this gesture to  save his career,nay,marriage to Triza.To me,this was done to enhance his image to the world.And soon returned to his WWW world---  wealth,women and wine.In aword,if anybody should be blamed for Wanjiru's death,it is his manager.For how could he sit and watch Wanjiru,24,get lost in money?I don't understand.I f I were he or she I would have sought out a way of helping this youngster survive in a world of wealth at a tender age.

Having said that,I think it is time closer attention is accorded to helping young people who are favored by providence to fall on fortune
cope with it.There are many in this list.Musicians,artists ,footballers,and professionals in lucrative ventures.

The Sungu Sungu Bloodbath in Kisii County

Beneath this deceptive landscape that speaks of calm,peace and plenty lie overly  heartrending stories.They are stories of pain,sorrow, and bitterness.They are stories told by different men and women here,but the subject is invariably the same---Sungusungu.

A common statement among those whose lives have taken   sad,new permanent paths ,thanks to the bloodcurdling attacks by the outlawed group here is this:"the government has neglected us",and this said in whispers---to a trusted listener.For the group is rather rash, thin-skinned to criticism and fast to anger and action.

Despite the spate of killings meted out on witchcraft and robbery suspects over the years here,the government does not--according to residents--"seem keen to help them".The residents say government officials participated in the community policing project that gave birth to Sungusungu,but has now given the victims a wide berth as things get worse by the day.And the killings continue,albeit in a measured frequency.

Established in the  late 90s in what was then intended to reduce crime levels in  the Gusii region,Sungusungu has over the years slowly but steadily spread its claws here,becoming synonymous with  terror and bloodletting across the region.It was in a secret deal between the local chiefs and residents that the group was initiated.

Residents have often woken up to scary and brutal beheading of suspects.And this is a fact that is only too well understood and known by those who have had the misfortune to experience its callous,deathly claws.  And here,no one is spared.From witchcraft and robbery suspects to those critical of the group's operations,one feeling is palpable---Fear.



Although no official record exists regarding the number of people whose deaths point back to the gang,dozens have been killed in night attacks.The only evidence fatherless homes and frustrated folks.

A source who asked the Hard-nosed Column to name her Damaris said no victim wants to talk about them(Sungusungu) for fear of reprisal attacks or victimization.

"We live in fear.Most of the people killed are obviously innocent,but we have no recourse.None.The government is just watching,"she said

Damaris,a mother of three,lost her husband in an operation that left five men beheaded and left lying on the road.She was eight months pregnant then.Letters went round warning against night vigils ,and ordering burials at cemeteries.

"It was about 3am when they came.One of them knocked at the door,calling out my husband's name.He made as if he was in distress,and so my man offered to help.He went ion to open the door,and that's how they killed him"the 20-year old widow said adding that they suspected  that  husband of robbery.

"I knew him very well.He was  very hardworking.He everyday woke up early to crash stones.That was how he started out.Later he set up a grocery before setting up shop successfully as a shopkeeper dealing in electronics",she said

Damaris story replicates itself in Gusii region,with several  households losing their loved ones in mysterious circumstances.While people here loathe Sungusungu,no one dares to challenge their operations.

Further out in the outskirts of Kisii town,we meet  Johnson* at Suneka township.He shows us deserted buildings  in what remains a constant reminder of  the 2003  crackdown by Sungusungu operatives on witchcraft suspects.In the operation,Johnson says,several people were killed with scores fleeing the area  never to return.

The people who fled this area have since come to be called "Sungusungu fugitives".Their property remains unused as forests cover the land and buildings cave in.

Years on,this group continues to visit terror and destruction of families of innocent people --all in the name of security.And the question is:for how long is this going to last?For the residents ,the government is the only savior near at hand.

Anxiety as Hague Six Jet Out

Anxiety has gripped the country firmly as suspects believed  to have engineered  the 2007 electoral mayhem  prepare to leave the country for the International Criminal Court(ICC)  at the Hague today.

The suspects who include suspended  Higher education minister William Ruto,deputy prime minister Uhuru Kenyatta,head of civil service Francis Muthaura ,postmaster general Hussein Ali and radio journalist Joshua Sang are expected at the Hague Thursday for their initial appearance.

The sextet leaves the country at a time when leaders are sharply divided over the trials with some rooting for a mechanism to try the suspects within the country.

Last week,the six were issued with special visas permitting them entry to a handful of countries in Europe.

Prime minister Raila Odinga has been on the receiving lately as politicians continue to blame him for their Hague tribulations.There have been concerns too that the six might be detained at the ICC.

However,the court has already indicated that the politicians and journalist will be free to return home after the initial appearance.

In the run-up to today's historic 78-hour journey ,the suspects exuded confidence that they will be proved innocent since they did not take part in the violence that saw over 1000 people dead and property worth millions destroyed by fire.

Defense lawyers set foot at the Hague yesterday ahead of the appearances with some promising the ICC a "real legal battle".The lawyers have also expressed confidence that their clients would be exonerated.

The team of lawyers arriving at the Hague yesterday included prof. Kithika Kindure,Kitwa Kigen, among  others ,arguably the cream of Kenya's legal brains.

The visit to the international court of justice  is significant   as it is the first of its kind in the country's history and its outcome could determine how leaders handle disputes in future

ICC Pending Trials Raise Odinga's 2012 Stakes

This ending week has seen politicians from the two factions of Kenya's coalition government engage in a war of words over the waiting trials of the suspected masterminds of the post-election violence of 2008.

Already,ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo has indicated  he has a strong case against the six suspects perceived to have had the greatest responsibility in the electoral mayhem that caused the death of over 1000 people.

There has been a lot of argument here lately among politicians with some rooting for a local tribunal to try the suspects while  others expressing confidence in  the ICC.

The trials,apart from putting key politician's careers on the line,have been seen as an  influential  factor in the  elections to be held next year  with Prime minister Raila Odinga  still topping  as the most preferred candidate ,according to surveys.

But even then ,the premier's  popularity has seemingly diminished in what can be attributed to his latest advocacy for the ICC.The Orange Democratic Movement(ODM),the Pm's party is apparently in jeopardy with many members condemning it.

The Pm said Thursday that the party was not going to foot legal expenses for its members implicated in the 2008 mayhem.On Friday the party through Ababu Namwamba said  it was to hep them.

Mr William Ruto of Eldoret North ,the most obvious of the  ODM  party rebels,and a suspect in the ICC case ,has already turned down the offer ,accusing the party of hypocrisy citing a letter allegedly written to the ICC  by the party calling for stern action.

These latest developments will in all likelihood  reduce Mr Odinga's popularity in the lead up to next years polls,making the outcome of the plebiscite  overly unpredictable.

Rail Firm Rolls out New Tarrif Frequencis

The Rift Valley Railways company has  launched new tariff  frequencies  that will in all likelihood change the landscape of the transport industry  in Kenya.Under the new scheme  set to affect  commuter trains,RVR has  increased  the trains' frequency from eight to 18  daily in what will likely  ease congestion.

This development comes at a time when Kenyans are grappling  with high costs of basic commodities and transport with recent media reports  indicating that Kenya has the highest cost of living  behind only Pakistan.

In the transport industry,matatu  owners increased  fare two weeks ago arguing  the move was meant to absorb the high cost of fuel.This has in recent days led to a large number of  passagers flocking  train stations owing to the locomotive's relatively low commuting fare.


In an announcement issued today,RVR  management said  the new  tariff   frequencies  seek to  meet passenger convenience.

Last year, the rail company announced  an intended construction of a modern network to mitigate traffic jams for which  major city roads are famous  by  a big margin.This  announcement came amid concerns that the company was insoluble.


The  company,  previously dubbed Kenya Railways  ,is currently working a strategy  to increase its profitability  .

Last year,the firm announced  losses running in millions occasioned by   widespread vandalism of rails by  vandals dealing in scrap metal.
With this latest development ,RVR is set to raise  profits and  possibly  restore clear roads in rush hours.