Your opinion is grossly inaccurate
and a true misinterpretation of what Ngugi wa Thiong’o said. First, I commend
you for saying Ngugi is not such a superb writer in your view. Meja Mwangi does
it for you. That’s okay. However, as you stated at the beginning of your
writing that you will ramble, you have exactly done that to the detriment of
the sobriety of the piece.
You
make wild claims that Ngugi views things in a static way and that he has no
dynamics but how is that? Most of Ngugi’s novels were set in the backdrop of
colonialism and they still ring true today. Ngugi’s novels speak of inequality
that was entrenched after Kenya attained independence, historical injustices
perpetrated by your beloved imperialists that you touch with kid’s gloves,
wretched poverty that was planted by the first regime and national plunder that
sound true in the Kenyan picture. A Grain
of Wheat is a magnum opus by Ngugi and was published way back in 1967. The
political betrayals of the period frozen in the book are still reflected in
today’s politics. And none can try to dissociate politics and development. Can
you? Legislators create laws that affect citizens. Politicians are in charge of
coffers with taxpayers’ money and so these are bedfellows. You cannot divorce
them. So how does the middle-class squeeze in between? It’s the political
patronage, the corruption, the bootlicking tendencies to stay at the
bourgeoisie level. Most of the middle-class cares for themselves. Period. Adolf
Hitler, the world’s infamous sadist said in his political ideology Mein Kampf in Chapter 2 of the book
under the title: Years of Study and
Suffering in Vienna:
“The reason for this hostility, as we might almost call it, lies in the
fear of a social group (middle-class), which has but recently raised itself
above the level of the manual worker, that it will sink back into the old
despised class, or at least become identified with it. To this, in many cases,
we must add the repugnant memory of the cultural poverty of this lower class,
the frequent vulgarity of its social intercourse; the petty bourgeois' own
position in society, however insignificant it may be, makes any contact with
this outgrown stage of life culture intolerable.”
I am not in some class issues with
the middle-class because none chooses in what family to be born. For example,
you say the middle class find they are ‘truly’ themselves when they are
‘sitting at the dinner table eating kuku…’However, let me bring to your
attention that daily most Kenyan families sleep hungry. In order to be
themselves, they toil under the scorching sun with meager resources, receive
little produce for subsistence but again, it is sold. It’s that grim and tormenting.
According to the World Bank 2011 report, Kenya’s poverty level stands at 44 to
46 percent. This means almost half the
population is not living a comfortable life of meeting its fundamental needs
that include adequate shelter, clothing, and the most paramount, food. Survival
itself.
Again, you declare that they (I am
assuming the imperialists) cannot colonize your mind because there are ‘many
deep places…education will never touch.’ This is total fallacy. The truth is, the
White man came and brainwashed the African to think like he does. Imperialists
came and destroyed African cultures and customs. They desecrated upon things
Africans cherished. Things we valued in heart and in mind. That’s when the
clans started disintegrating and young men started embracing the White man wholly
and blindly by mocking their traditions. People society valued and had hopes in
turned to the ‘Chuis’ in post modern Kenya (Petals of Blood). In a nutshell, in
return for ‘civilization’, the imperialists robbed the African his African
mind. Then Adam Smith came with his Wealth
of Nations seminal text espousing the economics of Capitalism which I do
not want to scorn. But it is also critical to observe that Capitalism has also
produced its fair share of penury in third world nations such as Kenya. The
bourgeoisie are adamant to ensure the proletariat maximizes his/her labor power
at the expense of even his health all for the surplus value. In other words,
there is a section that wants the status quo to remain so that they can
continue amassing wealth at the expense of others.
Talking of languages, do you know
some families are forcing their children to speak only English and Kiswahili at
all times? What happens when they go to the village because we are Africans and
‘Home’ can never be Nairobi or Eldoret or even Canada as noted by Miguna in his
book Peeling Back the Mask at the
beginning. So, where is the pride in nurturing children in borrowed language if
they cannot identify with their cultures and customs? Even a true middle-class man understands it
is an inadequacy on his part either from a psychological or sociological point
of view. But they will hide under the disguise of modernization which I call
inferiority complex. That is why Ngugi’s statement of colonizing ‘Wanjiku’ is
very true. They want Africans to forget themselves and jump totally to the
white man’s arms.
However, I do not object to the
massive contribution of capitalism especially in the telecommunication sector
in terms of cell phones, internet et al. It is a step in the right direction
and a clear pointer we are headed for greater things. But, let’s pause a little
and turn the other side of the coin. What about the majority of Kenyans who
still do not have what to eat leave alone using technology? The average citizen
who struggles to exist and not hustle for a modem or some credit card for
his/her cellphone. Martin Luther King Jnr once lamented that man has learnt to
fly planes and do everything sophisticated but cannot live with his brothers
and sisters. You also mention that your
‘generation know nothing about colonialism.’ Which generation is that? I bet
they are not Kenyans or even worse Africans. Colonialism is taught in the
Kenyan education curriculum. A subject such as History is mandatory in form
one. Unless you schooled under the British education system that I doubt teach
kids their histories. Things like the year of independence, the year when
Kapenguria six were arrested and the formation of Kenya African Union were
taught and still are. And the fact that our generation was not born in a colony
does mean we forget the past.
Then you rightly say that the
middle-class is boring. It is the absolute truth. The middle-class has totally
refused to participate in the political process of this nation hence things
such as graft and tribalism remain rooted in the country’s psyche. When oil
prices shoot up, the middle class will complain but still buy. When ordinary
citizens grumble the education standards in public institutions is plummeting,
the middle will criticize but take their kids to private schools. When there
are security concerns, again they will show disgust but move to gated
apartments with German shepherd dogs and security guards. No problem with
someone living the life he/she desires. Already Chapter 4 of the Constitution
on the Bill of Rights permits that. But that is again burying one’s head in the
sand. Running away from a problem because after all, it is ‘them’ who know how
to find solutions to their tribulations. And it is a norm for the majority of
the middle class to blame the lower class for indolence and obsession with the
politics of the day at the expense of seeking a meaningful living. But that is
not case. The lower class mainly relies on CDF funds, LATF funds and scholarships
because they cannot afford private institutions and gated homes.
Lastly, the way you interpret Meja
Mwangi’s plots in his stories in relation to the world today is similar to
those of Ngugi wa Thiong’o. The street thievery in Kill Me Quick is the same as the perfidy and kleptocracy in A Grain of Wheat and Petals of Blood respectively.’ The 60’s
and 70’s that Ngugi keeps mentioning led Kenya to where it is today. Where
negative ethnicity, cancerous sleaze and poverty is the order of the day. The
60’s and 70’s you want Ngugi not to talk about anymore because now there is
Safaricom planted the seeds of unemployment and hopelessness among the majority
of Kenyans. That’s why the regular Onyango, Maina or Makau will fall victim to
things beyond his/her control because the powers that be are in control
somewhere. But again, the middle class will admonish you that the poor keep on
blaming fate and phantom external forces for their miseries and laziness. Who
knows?
