Right of Reply: Why the Middle-Class is Afraid of the Truth.

            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?