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Events News Personalities

Ngugi bags Man Booker nomination

Kenya’s foremost writer Ngugi wa Thiong’o is among 14 contenders for this year’s Man Booker International Prize. Worth £60,000 to the winner, the prize is awarded every two years to a living author who has published fiction either originally in English or whose work is generally available in translation in the English language.
Ngugi is the only African writer in the list of nominees, who include Nobel winner V.S. Naipaul. The nomination alone is enough proof that Ngugi’s works are rated among the world’s best.
Other nominees for the prize are Peter Carey (Australia), Evan S. Connell (USA)
Mahasweta Devi (India), E.L. Doctorow (USA) , James Kelman (UK), Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru), Arnošt Lustig (Czechoslovakia), Alice Munro (Canada), Joyce Carol Oates (USA), Antonio Tabucchi (Italy), Dubravka Ugresic (Croatia) and Ludmila Ulitskaya (Russia).
This is the third edition of the prize, which was won, in 2005, by Albanian Writer Ismail Kadare, and Nigerian Chinua Achebe, in 2007.
“By honouring Achebe they have redressed what is seen in Africa – and beyond – as the acute injustice that he has never received the Nobel prize, allegedly because he has spent his life struggling to break the grip of western stereotypes of Africa,” said the Guardian in 2007.
The winner is chosen solely at the discretion of the judging panel; there are no submissions from publishers.
Ngugi, whose writing career started 45 years ago decided to stop writing in English when he was detained without trial in 1977. He henceforth decided that would write in Gikuyu. He wrote his latest book Wizard of the Crow (Murogi wa Kagogo) in Gikuyu and later translated it in English.
The book takes a critical look at the often hypocritical relationship between Africa and donor countries. The book appears to suggest that donor funds are actually the main contributors to corruption and dictatorship in Africa, thereby fuelling underdevelopment in the continent.
His other book The River Between is currently a literature set book studied by secondary school students in the country. Ngugi is also a renowned essayist, with Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of language in African Literature and Moving the Centre: The Struggle for Cultural Freedom, receiving international acclaim.
Ngugi was born on 5 January, 1938 in Limuru. He attended Makerere University in Uganda and Leeds University in the UK.
During his tenure as a lecturer at the University of Nairobi, Ngugi was at the center of the politics of English departments in Africa, championing the change of name from English to simply Literature to reflect world literature with African and third world literatures at the center.
The performance of I Will Marry When I Want, a play written with the late Ngugi Wa Mirii, at Kamirithu in Limuru landed him at the Kamiti Maximum prison without trial.
After his release in 1982, he fled to exile, first in Britain and then to the US and only returned to Kenya in 2004. On his return him and his wife Njeeri were attacked by gunmen at their hotel in Nairobi.
In 1992 he became a professor of Comparative Literature and Performance Studies at New York University, where he held the Erich Maria Remarque Chair. He is currently a Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature as well as the Director of the International Centre for Writing and Translation at the University of California, Irvine.
The winner of this year’s Man Booker International Prize will be announced in May 2009, and the winner will be presented with their award at a ceremony in Dublin on 25 June 2009.

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Issues Personalities Reviews

Koigi’s shock and awe in new book

It has been said that former Subukia MP Koigi wa Wamwere and controversy are inseparable. Nowhere does that come out clearly than in his new book Towards Genocide in Kenya: The Curse of Negative Ethnicity in Kenya. Actually, this is not an entirely new book. Koigi added a new chapter in his earlier book Negative Ethnicity: From Bias to Genocide, to come up with the present book.
The first book was published by Seven Stories Press in New York in 2003. It warned of what would happen in Kenya should we let the monster of negative ethnicity (tribalism) entrench itself in the country. We entertained the monster and it did not disappoint. Four years after Koigi’s book was published the country burst its seams.
Kenyans turned against Kenyans in an orgy of murderous violence previously unseen in the country history of the country. Well, we had witnessed violence inspired by negative ethnicity since 1992, at the introduction of multi party politics, and which occurred predictably, every five years, in time for general elections.
The violence that took place after the contested 2007 General Election, though said to be a “fight for democracy” was just an extension of what had been happening in 1992 and 1997. The only difference is that this time inhibitions were cast aside, and our soft underbelly was exposed. Local and international media cheered on as poor Kenyans butchered fellow poor Kenyans.
If truth be told, the 2007 elections were not about issues. It was all about tribe and hatred, and negative ethnicity was on the driver’s seat. The new chapter on Koigi’s book is aptly titled Reaping the Storm, for we surely reaped the storm. The author puts events that led to the violence into sharp perspective, and he takes no prisoners. In the book, he delves into issues that are only talked about in whispers. In short he goes where the Kenyan media chose to ignore or to cover up all together.
Koigi also takes the battle to the backyard Western powers and exposes what he thinks was their role in the whole issue. Most of all he examines the relationship between various ethnic communities in Kenya and how politicians were able to exploit that and sow seeds of enmity and hatred among the people. He also addresses the issues of the coalition government, and what he thinks are its chances of success.
Going by some of the revelations in the book, it is likely that it might rub some feathers the wrong way, and that is where Koigi excels in courting controversy. Some publishers had to turn the book down, in view of the explosive contents of the new chapter. Eventually, the book found home in Mvule Africa, a publishing venture run by Barrack Muluka, another person who does not shy away from controversy. I must also mention that the book has some pictures, whose only intention must have been to cause “shock and awe”. You only need to see some of the images to see what I mean.
The book is available at leading bookstores and is retailing at Sh1,200, which I think is a bit on the higher side. Overall, the general physical outlook of the book should have benefited from more professional input.

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Events Issues News

Kwani? Litfest is the place to be

The Kwani? Literary Festival (Litfest) kicks off today in Nairobi. This is by far the most prestigious literary event in the country, which attracts celebrated international literary luminaries, who mingle with homegrown talent.

The festival starts today and runs up to August 15 in Nairobi and the coastal town of Lamu.

The festival will be in the form of a series of workshops, symposiums, book launches, discussions, retreats, travelling and networking. Participants will also have a chance of developing their creative writing skills, with an emphasis on how stories can help society to see itself more coherently.

One of the star attractions of this year’s event is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a Nigerian, who has variously been described as Chinua Achebe’s literary daughter. And it is not for nothing. Chimamanda has written two highly acclaimed novels, Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun. The book won the Orange Prize for Literature in 2007.

Chimamanda was one of the participants
Chimamanda was one of the participants

Another personality who will also be coming down for the festival is Ishmael Beah, a former child soldier in Sierra Leone, whose book A Long Way Gone has caused enough controversy, in the literary world with groups of writers vigorously contesting is authenticity.

There is also Doreen Baingana, a Ugandan, whose book Tropical Fish: Stories out of Entebbe, won a Commonwealth Prize in 2006, among others. Her stories have been nominated twice for the Caine Prize.

Another Ugandan is Monica Arac de Nyeko, Winner of the 2007 Caine Prize for her story The Jambula Tree.
Aminatta Forna, will also make an appearance. She is a writer of non-fiction and fiction. Her critically acclaimed memoir of her political dissident father and her country Sierra Leone, The Devil that Danced on the Water was runner-up for the Samuel Johnson Prize 2003.

Dayo Forster, a Gambian based in Kenya will also be there. Her book Reading the Ceiling, was short-listed for the 2008 Commonwealth Writer’s Prize Best First Book for the Africa Region.
Most of these foreign authors will be conducting a series of writing workshops

The festival will also be teeming with local talent, ranging from journalists, poets, writers to movie-makers. Toping the list of local stars is the other rebel, the mercurial Tony Mochama, otherwise known as Smitta Smitten.

Now, Mochama is not your everyday journalist. He is a gossip columnist extraordinaire. He also likes calling himself a vodka connoisseur, for his well-publicised escapades with the demon drink. He is also a poet and a trained lawyer.

Late last year he wrote his poetry anthology titled What if I am a Literary Gangster? which earned him the moniker literary gangster.

There is also Muthoni Garland, the founder of Storymoja, which has taken Nairobi by storm with its stimulating storytelling sessions. Muthoni is also the author of Tracking the Scent of my Mother, which was nominated for the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2006.

Another Kenyan in the faculty is filmmaker and writer, Simiyu Barasa. He wrote and directed of the Feature film Toto Millionaire (2007) and has written for numerous Kenyan dramas like Makutano Junction, Tahidi High and Wingu la Moto.

Going the example of the Litfest, there can be no denying the fact members Kwani? Trust has what it takes to keep the literary flame ablaze in Kenya for a long time to come. Ever since they happened on the scene about six years ago, they have been growing bolder and better. And lovers of the written word have been taking notice.

It all started when Binyavanga Wainaina, then virtually unknown in the country, won the prestigious Caine Prize for African Writing with his short story Discovering Home in 2002. He chose to invest his prize money in promoting writing in his country.

This came at a time when the Kenyan literary landscape was experiencing a fallow period, still smarting from the effects of Prof Taban Lo Liyong rebuke that East Africa was a literary wasteland.

Binyavanga had a plan for reigniting the now cold literary fires, and he had to do it his own way. For one he broke with conventions, and embraced individuals who conventional literary types would not have touched with a ten-foot pole.

Binya, as he is fondly known, took in his wing the Ukoo Flani Mau Mau, a hip-hop community based in the slums of Dandora. And to cap it all, he founded the Kwani? Journal, which even featured graffiti art. And to ruffle the establishement types even further he celebrated Sheng, that bastard street language, that is much reviled for its corrosive effects on proper English and Kiswahili.

In the Third edition of Kwani? there was a short story written in Sheng! The conservative types were not prepared to take Binya’s, brave and different style lying down. They called him all manner of names and he gave back as much as he got.

To cut the long short, Kwani? has today become a movement. Even those initially opposed to them today find themselves honored to appear in their functions.

Form the Open Mic, monthly poetry reading sessions, to Sunday Salon, monthly prose reading sessions, the Kwani? gospel is slowly but surely winning followers.

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Reviews

Negative Ethnicity: From Bias to Genocide

Title: Negative Ethnicity: From Bias to Genocide
Author: Koigi wa Wamwere
Publisher: Seven Stories Press

For a long time Kenyans held their heads high confident that theirs was a peaceful country, that the “Curse of Africa” – internal fighting – has never struck us, in spite of the fact that we are a multi-ethnic communities.
Well, this came to an embarrassing end following the disputed December 27 elections, when untold violence was visited upon innocent Kenyans. Their crime, they belonged to an ‘enemy’ ethnic community.
Following the clashes that saw Kenya being put in the same category with perennial trouble spots like Gaza, attempts have been made at explaining what caused such violence. Some have said that the presidential election results brought about the mayhem, while others put it down to “historical injustices”.
Former Subukia MP Koigi wa Wamwere begs to differ. In his book Negative Ethnicity: From Bias to Genocide, written in 2003, he identifies negative ethnicity as the chief cause of what is happening in the country today.
It is astounding how the book, written a good four years before the 2007 General Election, speaks almost prophetically about present day happenings. What is more the book says that negative ethnicity is not a phenomenon unique to Kenya or Africa for that matter. Based on research the book says negative ethnicity is to blame for what happened in the former Yugoslavia.
From the outset, Koigi sets about distinguishing ethnicity from negative ethnicity. According to the book ethnicity denotes the aspects that make us unique and different from others, be it shared language, beliefs, religion, race or colour. One’s ethnicity is something to be proud of, as it defines our culture and who we are.
Negative ethnicity on the other hand manifests itself when a group of people see themselves as being superior to others by virtue of their ethnicity. It also applies to those who see themselves as being inferior to other ethnic groups.
While in Africa negative ethnicity is manifested as being black against black, further a field it is in the form of white against white. “Though obvious, there are many who deny the existence of white negative ethnicity,” writes the author. “And when it is conceded, people seem to think it is less pernicious than its black counterpart… White negative ethnicity is just as brutal as black negative ethnicity, as the Croat-Serb conflict in the former Yugoslavia illustrated.”
“In this ethnic carnage,” he continues. “Over 200,000 people have lost their lives and two million were displaced from their homes, half never to return – proof that the monster of negative ethnicity is no more civilized in Europe than in Africa.”
Recently Kosovo declared itself an independent state, earning the recognition of world powers like the US. While the separation of those countries might seem the way forward in bring an end to the violence, Koigi does not believe it is an answer in itself.
“The more difficult promise of democracy, security of life and property, freedom, justice, and equality for all must replace the simplistic carving up of multiethnic nations into weak single ethnic states that are hostile to one another,” he writes.
Seeing as negative ethnicity, among the whites is no different from that which occurs among the blacks, the author singles out Europe and America for blame, if their response is anything to go by. He argues that powers in Europe and America were more enthusiastic in dealing with negative ethnicity in Yugoslavia than they were in Rwanda or Sierra Leone.
In the book, the author expresses concern that negative ethnicity is yet to be handled with the seriousness it deserves by the international community. “Like racism, negative ethnicity has spawned many genocidal forces. But while genocide, the product of negative ethnicity, is rightly regarded as a crime against humanity, negative ethnicity is not. It is indeed funny logic that considers the child worse than the parent,” he argues.
Koigi’s book presents the interplay between negative ethnicity and racism. He argues that while racism is a form of negative ethnicity, it is indeed racism that prevents Western powers from putting in place mechanisms that would tame negative ethnicity. On the other hand African leaders will whine about racism, while at the same time conveniently overlooking negative ethnicity, which the author identifies as Africa’s biggest problem, after HIV/Aids.
According to the book, the seeds of negative ethnicity are planted with such innocence that they are a source of fun. In the Kenyan example it manifests itself in the form of the ‘harmless’ jokes leveled on the different ethnic communities. These gradually grow into ethnic prejudices, and these are as varied as we have many ethnic communities.
These prejudices eventually graduate into using derogatory terms. These are geared towards generating resentment and hostility, and eventually the need to get rid of the ‘enemy’ communities. At that stage proponents of negative ethnicity drum into their people such hatred for their ‘enemies’ that they justify the killings that occurs afterwards.
Giving the example of the Rwandan genocide, the book argues that Hutus equated Tutsis with pests like cockroaches or weeds that had to be destroyed at all costs. “Negative ethnicity does not only dehumanize those it will destroy. It also dehumanizes the murderers into cold, sadistic machines. In Rwanda, the dehumanization of killers was unmistakable,” writes Koigi.
In a multiethnic country like Kenya, negative ethnicity challenges multiethnic nationalism, uproots and replaces national patriotism with ethnic patriotism. Thus, like it is the case in Kenya, politics takes on an increasingly ethnic nature, such that those who refuse to identify with ethnic patriotism are branded traitors to the ethnic cause.
Negative ethnicity, among other ways manifests itself when a particular community says that they would like one of their own in State House so that they can take part in “eating”. On the other hand, those with one of theirs in power say that they would like to protect their “chance to eat.”
Negative ethnicity presents itself in such a way that those who practice it do not see it as being a problem, and therefore has a way of deflecting people’s minds from its evil nature.
Writes Koigi: “Negative ethnicity never parades itself as evil. It promises security, food, power and freedom to African communities, and such it wins adherents by millions.”
And negative ethnicity afflicts everyone, in spite of their profession or standing in society. “I have seen church leaders use their pulpits to preach it (negative ethnicity) to their unsuspecting congregations. I have seen it taught by university professors, advocated by young intellectuals. I have seen it fed to the masses by journalists working, not just in the so-called gutter press, but for respectable newspapers, radio and television. I have seen in practiced by politicians in government and used by those in opposition,” writes the author.
The tragedy of negative ethnicity is that while it promises ‘liberation’ to the whole community, it only benefits a chosen few, namely the ethnic elite and those closest to them. “The elites are guilty of masterminding negative ethnicity, ethnic clashes, wars and massacres. Ordinary people are guilty of executing these conflicts…” says the book.
The book gives the author’s own experience with negative ethnicity in the country, as well as the history of ethnically inspired clashes and massacres in the country, their causes and effects. The book also gives channels that are used to entrench negative ethnicity. It also suggests ways in which the fires of negative ethnicity can be quelled.
The author suggests that a body be formed to measure how widespread negative ethnicity is, something akin to the global corruption index. “If we had such a chart for Africa,” he writes. “Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, Ethiopia, Congo, Sierra Leone, and Liberia would top the list with perhaps 95 per cent of the population involved in ethnic conflicts.”
Kenya, Nigeria and Ivory Coast would come a close second with 80 per cent. South Africa would follow with 30 per cent, while Tanzania and Botswana would be at the bottom with 20 per cent.
This book is recommended reading for all Kenyans, if only to understand, the kind of enemy they are flirting with. Negative Ethnicity also comes highly recommended to the mediation committee led by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. It would help them understand the conflict that has brought them here in the first place.

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Reviews

Deadly Money Maker: A Review

Title: Deadly Money Maker
Author: Saga Macodongo
Publisher: Paulines Publications Africa
It is human nature to yearn for better life. This is the reason why people work so hard so as to improve their livelihoods. It is no longer strange to find people holding multiple jobs, if only to make ends meet.


However, there are a few who opt not to live by the sweat of their brows. These are the ones who prefer to cut corners in pursuit of the ‘good life.’
As a teacher at the Kenya Polytechnic, Judy Akinyi, felt the money she was earning was not enough for the kind of lifestyle she wanted for herself and her family. The fact that she was not content with whatever she was earning put her at a very vulnerable position.
Just as she was contemplating ways of supplementing her income, her mind wondered back to a friend who seemed to lead a thoroughly luxurious life. Akinyi wanted this woman to share, with her, secrets of success.
Just as expected, the other woman held the ‘keys’ to unimaginable riches. She only needed to part with Sh200,000, which would then yield millions. Her vulnerability thus exposed, Akinyi was ready to go all the way, in pursuit of riches.
And go she did. Today, she is a guest of the State, housed at the Lang’ata Women’s Prison, where she is serving the last of 11 years prescribed to her by a judge at the Kibera Law Courts.
While in jail, she decided to put pen on paper, and could well be the first Kenyan to have a book published while still behind bars. Deadly Money Maker, which she writes under the pen name Saga Mcodongo, gives the account of her life including her deadly encounter with the woman who was responsible for her incarceration.
The saga of the collapsed pyramid schemes goes to show how Kenyans, including educated ones are gullible when it comes to making quick money. Akinyi was no different. The lure of easy riches led her to taking a loan, money which she gave her friend, Queen.
Her dream of riches would turn into her worst nightmare. The money got ‘lost’ in unexplained circumstances, leaving her a thoroughly desperate woman. This was the sign Queen was looking for and she went for the kill. To get her money back she was required to run an ‘errand’ for Queen.
The errand involved delivering a ‘package’ from Pakistan. Akinyi had gone to deep to turn back. She had now been initiated into the risky world of drug peddlers. The trip to Pakistan, and back, was supposed to last five days. It was not to be.
Hoping all would turn out well, Akiyi told her family that she was going to her rural home for the five days. And so with a fake passport she embarked on a journey that would take her, not five days, but three months, and straight into the waiting hands of police at the JKIA.
In her luggage was 150 grammes of heroine. So instead of getting rich, she instead earned herself a lengthy jail term, and lost some money in the process.
Deadly Money Maker takes the reader into the murky world of drugs, and in Queen, reveals how ruthless drug barons can be. “She had contacts with key personnel in government and mixed with the high and mighty,” she writes. “… after giving me a long lecture on how secretive I had to be, she went on to tell me how she dealt with people who tried to be clever. “I kill them,” she said coldly.”
From her narrative, it would appear that Queen was extremely powerful and influential. But then, the bigger they are the harder they fall. The long arm of the arm soon caught up with Queen, and she later joined Akinyi at Langata.
And since her case involved trafficking drugs to the US, she had to be flown there. Akinyi was airlifted to the US, where she spent two months testifying against Queen, who was later handed a 24-year sentence.
Akinyi landed at Langata before the Moody Awori prison reforms, and her narration shows how much the reforms improved the place. Sadistic beatings by the prison officers were the order of the day.
The author says that at times prisoners were beaten till they passed out. She argues that the Kenyan Prison system, before the reforms had been inherited from the colonialists and that no efforts were put in place to improve them.
“I keep thinking how the colonialists left us to oppress each other with their old dehumanising rules, while they went back to develop their own countries, practicing none of the things they left behind with us,” she observes in the book.
Wanini Kireri, who during her time as the officer in charge of Langata, receives special mention in the book for the role she played in bringing about reforms at the institution. “In three months (after Wanini’s arrival), there were reforms all over the prison. Where there had been gloom and screams there was now laughter. The new officer in charge radiated sanity, and charity, and there was light at the end of the tunnel at last,” she writes.
Having shared prison walls with inmates who were also drug addicts, Akinyi witnessed first hand the deadly effects of the drugs, which she had wanted to traffic.
She explains that it is that feeling of remorse that led her to testify against Queen, although one cannot rule out the possibility that she did it to get back at her tormentor.
The book also has useful tips on how one can identify signs in a person who is abusing drugs. It also contains a section that describes the common drugs and the effects they have on those that abuse them.
Akinyi should be commended for gathering the courage to tell her story, if only to educate others, and steer them away from the destructive ways of drugs. The book, however well written has quite a number of unanswered questions.
Her explanation of how she ended up in the world of drugs is not entirely convincing. One gets the nagging feeling that she held back some information.
She is also not convincing about the disappearance of her money in the hands of Queen. Why didn’t she report the matter to the police if she hadn’t engaged in any wrong-doing before then?
Since she decide to reveal all, it would have been nice to know they related with her husband after her arrest.
The shortcomings notwithstanding, Deadly Money Maker is a useful addition to literature that touches on prison life and the drugs underworld

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Issues

Letter to a friend

This is my first post this year. What happened after the General Election left me thoroughly disillusioned. How could we descend to such barbarity. Is politics really that important that I have to kill my neighbour? Are our political leader’s worth dying for? Do we have to hate so much? I tried asking myself these and more questions, and everytime I drew a blank.
Today, my e-mail inbox popped and a childhood friend (who by accident of birth is a Luo) wrote telling me how this fighting is ovyo (full of rubbish). He reminded me that in Nakuru (Rongai), where we were born, we co-existed with so many tribes that some of us are multi-lingual. My friend is called Chege, but his real name is Ouma. He got his name after that famous footballer Ouma Chege. The subject of his message was Amani (Peace).
As I write this my family back at home lives in constant fear of being attacked.
I thought I might share my reply to him, with you. In a way, it captures what has been going through my mind:
“We need peace my brother. This tribal hate thing does not help one single minute. You and I were brought in a society where you only spoke your mother tongue in the house. Out there Kiswahili was the lingua franca. Even today I consider Kiswahili to be my first language, because I think in Kiswahili. I never knew tribe, I only saw friends. Many were the days I came to your place, and even though I did not understand much of Luo, I felt quite comfortable and safe. I really looked forward to having a meal at your place. You on the other hand knew so much Kikuyu, that you could tell when one was being rude to an elder. All that didn’t matter. What mattered was that we were friends.
“Remember the days we used to sit outside Kaguchia’s bathroom, watching the sun set on Kandutura Hills (sadly that is where they started burning houses in Rongai), telling stories and laughing at our silly mchongoano (kutoana magear). Remember how I would go to our house and find you gone, and had to find you at your place.
When we were growing up, it did not matter what tribe one came from, what mattered was who would beat the other in our games, or who would play football better. With our dogs, we went hunting together, swam together, stole fruits at Nyamu’s together, and chased girls together. We engaged in mischief together, and our parents, it did not matter whose child it was, punished us together.
Why can’t Kenya go back to those old days? It is said that people wise up as they grow older, does it mean that as Kenyans we’ve grown foolish as as the years go?”
Peace my dear readers

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Reviews

Book on Kalembe Ndile out

I have always been fascinated by the outgoing Kibwezi MP Kalembe Ndile, who is also an assistant minister in the Ministry of Tourism. His modest education aside, the politician has a way of putting his points across, that I think makes a lot of sense.
Take the case when he told off envoys attached to Kenya, when they were calling on President Kibaki to reappoint Samuel Kivuitu, whose tenure as the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) expires on December 2, for the sake of fairness in the December 27 elections.
Mimi sijui Kivuitu wa Amerika, ama wa Uingereza,” – I don’t Know Kivuitu’s equivalent in the US and UK – he said. He went on tell the foreign envoys that Kenya is a sovereign state, and other countries should not interfere with the way it conducts its elections. He also added that it would be unheard of for a Kenyan envoy, say in the US, to tell President Bush who to elect as the head of their electoral body.
Now, if that is not common sense, tell me what is. At the risk of being accused of leaning against one political side at this crucial moment of the political campaigns, let me stick to the mandate of this blog. Books. Well, Kalembe, in spite of his modest education, has done what Kenyan politicians rarely do, and that is producing books.
Kalembe Ndile: My Squatters, My Struggles, My Dream, is a book written by journalist Peter Thatiah, and seeks to have the reading public know the politician better.
book1.jpgKalembe might not have written the book, owing to his well documented inadequacies, but it nevertheless provides Kenyans with much needed details that might not find their way into newspaper pages, and which allows us to better understand and appreciate our country. Leaders, or politicians for that matter, by virtue of their positions and interactions, tend to influence decisions, and thus can be reagarded as depositories of a country’s history.
The book tells of how Kalembe’s parents emigrated to western Uganda where his father was then working at the Kilembe Copper Mines. And it is from the mines that Kalembe got his name. Apparently, when they got back to Kenya he could not tire telling people,about that “wonderful” place in Uganda.
So the name was amended to Kalembe as Kilembe was found to be too big for his small stature then. Note that in most Bantu dialects, which Kalembe’s Kikamba belongs, the prefix ka denotes small while ki is associated with something big. After the murderous Amin regime kicked the Ndile family out of Uganda, they found themselves back to Kibwezi in Eastern Kenya to a life of squalor and landlessness.
It is under that life of squatterhood that young Kalembe found himself struggling to get education. According to the book he had to burn charcoal to pay his fees at Emali Secondary School.
Having been brought up under such dire conditions Kalembe cultivated an burning desire to fight for the rights of fellow squatters, who incidentally are the majority in Kibwezi constituency. And what a better way to articulate this than in an elective post, he reckoned. He contested Nguumo Civic Ward in the 1997 General Elections and won. He was also elected the chairman of Makueni County Council the same year.
His term as a councilor was informed by waging battles with well-heeled and well-connected individuals, in the then Kanu Government, against land grabbing, a thing that earned him many enemies, including stints in police custody. At some point Parliament spent quite a considerable amount of time discussing his tribulations in the hands of his tormentors.
Still, such drawbacks could not extinguish his burning ressolve to fight for the rights of squatters. And they reciprocated by giving him their support during the 2002 General Elections, when he was elected as the Kibwezi legislator. At some point Kalembe was accused, in Parliament of being a highway robber in an earlier life. The book has not shied away from that, as well as his well publicised altercation with the ODM-K presidential candidate Kalonzo Musyoka, when he was ejected from a cultural function in Mwingi district.
In the book, Kalembe reckons that event contributed to Kalonzo’s dwindling fortunes in opinion polls.
Although the coming up with the book is commendable, the fact that it is self-published explains the rather lucklustre cover design, binding and quality of paper used. Still Thatiah’s command of language almost makes up for the shorcomings in quality.
I also got the feeling that the author dwelt a bit too much on some details, that are outside the main story of Kalembe’s life. Those details are okay when one is writing a big book, as they provide the useful background information. But for small book like this one, it is just too much. The reader for example misses out on how Kalembe met and married his wife, a thing that should not miss out on a biography or an autobiography for that matter.
In most parts, the reader gets assailed with too much of the author’s opinion, what with his showy and pompous use of language, at the expense of the story at hand. And on that note, I would not be surprised if the book attracts a libel suit or two, from some parties who might feel aggrieved by what is contained in the book. Whether the book is a campaign tool for Kalembe, only time will tell.

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Reviews

Anyang’ Nyong’o’s New Book

Former Planning Minister Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o launched his new book A Leap into the Future: A Vision for Kenya’s Socio-political and Economic Transformation, at the Grand Regency on Wednesday October 10.
A Leap into the Future is a collection of speeches, essays and articles compiled during Prof Nyongo’s tenure as minister in the Narc government, and soon after. In the book, the author examines the challenges of development of development, analyses how Pan-African and global partnerships could facilitate development.
Prof Nyong’o also projects his vision for socio-political and economic transformation of the Kenya society in a bid to formulate an economic strategy capable of transforming the country to First World development.
The book is published by African Research and Resource Forum, with WordAlive Publishers as the consultants. Prof Nyong’o, who is currently ODM Secretary General, believes that if Africa is to lift itself from the current situation of economic stagnation, then African countries have to learn from the East Asian countries.
The book is in the form of essays Prof Nyong’o, presented over a four-year period (2002-2006), including when he was Planning minister.
Politics aside, Prof Nyong’o is considered to be one of the toughest thinkers to have come out of the African continent, and A Leap into the Future proves just that. While being incisive and convincing his arguments betray the fact that sufficient research and thought went into their crafting.
The book contains information that the author believes if followed to the latter would transform Kenya into an economic success. Finance, governance and economic students will find the ideas packed in the book to be of invaluable help.
With admirable insights, Prof Nyong’o proceeds to shatter some long-held myths as to why African countries lag behind in development. He also takes on global bodies like the UN, which on paper are mandated to help end suffering in the continent, but are instead pursuing policies that continuously subjugate the continent, while miring it in debt.
He however does not lose sight the fact that African leaders are to blame for the economic mess African countries find themselves in. The common denominator in all the essays is the fact that good governance is key to faster development.
And for good governance to be there, then a country’s politics have to be put in order. And on the local front, he gives a valuable peek into what went into the crafting the now famous MoU, which was disregarded by the Kibaki, once the Narc Government came into power in following the historic 2002 General Election.
On the subject of corruption, Prof Nyong’o sheds some light into what some figures in the Kibaki Government refer to as “The Scandal that never was” – Anglo Leasing.

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Issues

Book Fair: lessons learnt

With this year’s Book Fair over and done with, there are a few things that organisers and the book industry in general need to take into consideration. Granted that the Fair, which was in its tenth year, was relatively successful, there are lingering feelings that it would have been much better.
Anyone visiting this year’s edition of the Book fair at the Sarit Centre, in Westlands, must have noted the increase in the number of stands, which is a good thing for the industry. It shows that the book industry is expanding. However, with this expansion comes the issue of space. Any casual observer at the Fair must have noticed that the stands were actually cramped.
This came out clearly particularly on the days there was increased traffic. With so much traffic, moving around the exhibition hall became quite labourious, and this is not a good thing for the various exhibitors, some of whom felt that visitors did not spend quality time at their stands. Thus, they ended up not reaping the maximum benefits of the increased traffic.
Secondly, as a result of the increase in the number of exhibitors this year, there were some stands that were relegated to the hall at the back. These ones must have felt shortchanged as not every visitor to the place was aware that they were there in the first place. I for one had not noted that there were additional stands at the back until someone dragged me back there.
This situation is now asking serious questions as to whether the Sarit Centre Expo Centre is too small for the book exhibitors. Is it time for publishers to shop for a different venue? This is a question only publishers can answer.
There also have been concerns to the effect that the Fair would do well if it was to held in a more central place, where most people can access easily. The answer to such a venue naturally falls on KICC. But will publishers, known for their aversion to part with money, afford the fees, a revamped and professionalised KICC demands?
Still, publishers have to grapple with the concern that the Nairobi International Book Fair is not properly marketed. Kenyans are yet to see the kind of publicity blitz that usually accompanies fairs like the Motor Show, Homes Expo, among others, being lavished on the Book Fair. Apart from diehard book lovers, a majority of Nairobians would most likely tell you that they have never heard of the Book Fair.
Perhaps due to the fact that most of their money comes from text book publishing, the most part of marketing for the Fair is concentrated in schools. Publishers, as a matter of priority, need to move out of their over reliance on text book publishing and start paying more attetion to general publishing. That way they will be able to attract more of the general public to the Fair.
It is also worthy noting that publishers do not engage in aggressive marketing of their products (read books). It is no wonder that they keep whining about the poor reading habits of Kenyans, when they are not creating enough hype on their books. The Kalenjin People’s Egypt Origin Legend Revisited: Was Isis Asiis?, a historical book published by Longhorn Kenya, is a case in point.
Having read the book, Philip Ochieng wondered why nothing was being done to publicise the book. In his Sunday Nation column published on August 5 2007, he posed the following question “Why was a book of such significance to Africa published quetly in an African city and sneaked into its bookshops without a single word of publicity?”
The marketing aspect begs another question. Should the promotion and marketing of the Nairobi International Book Fair be placed in the hands of professional marketers in future? Over to you publishers.
The other aspect that begs attention regarding the Book Fair has to do with international publishers. For a Fair that boast of its international status, one would expect to find a fair number of international exhibitors. Sadly this is not the case with the NIBF. One of the core roles of book fairs is the rights trading, and that is where international publishers come in. That, in our case, means that very few of our publishers get to sell or buy international rights.
And this does not mean that there no books being published here that would interest audiences in other parts of the world. On the contrary there are many books published locally that would be of immense interest out there, but the publishers are not doing much to have them known. Who else can they blame other than themselves?
The same thing applies to award winning books. The very fact that a certain book has won an award – any award – is enough reason for it to be promoted as widely as possible. But sadly our award winning books rarely get the attention they deserve on the international front.
Perhaps the only Kenyan book that received worldwide attention courtesy of winning an award is Margaret Ogola’s book The River and the Source, (Focus Publishers) which bagged the Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature in 1995. Today there are several international editions of the book doing rounds globally, including translations. However, that credit goes to the Commonwealth Writers Prize, which the book won the same year. It is organisers of the Commonwealth Prize who are the reason the book enjoys such international stature.
Speaking of prizes, lack of enough marketing also afflicts The Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature, which is the premier books award in the country. Were the organisers of the award – The Kenya Publishers Association – to market it more aggresivelly then the winners would not be the obscure lot they are today.
Again the prize money awarded to the winners, KSh40,000 (US$597), is not motivating enough. More importantly, the controversies characterised in the judging of the books is one the award can do well without.
The second Wahome Mutahi Prize for Literature will be held at the end of next year’s book fair, and I am afraid the same depressing award money, if not less, will be dished out to the winners. Isn’t the memory of Wahome Mutahi aka Whispers worthy much more than that?