By Peter Muthami
Ngugi Wa Thiong’o literary work bestrides the
continents like colossus. Although he missed the coveted Nobel Prize in
Literature by a whisker, it is on record that he has won many other
accolades.
He is a novelist and playwright of the ilk of Wole
Soyinka. His novel “Wizard of the Crow” (Murogi wa Kagogo in Kikuyu his
mother tongue), is, just like most African literary work, rich in
metaphor, symbolism, and an allusion to the realities of Kenya in the
80’s.
The novel makes extensive use of the conflict
between the haves and have-nots, the powerful and the victims of a
crumbling government system. The novel is set in the fictional Free
Republic of Aburiria (read Kenya if you like), governed by the second
Ruler (Moi was the second president). For those like this writer who
grew in Kenya during President Arap Moi’s era can only relate the state
of Aburiria with Kenya for things had gone out of hand. There are too
many parallels in the novel to be ignored – Kenya’s leadership had hi
rock bottom. Governance had completely gone, and replaced by sycophancy
and mediocrity that ensues in such circumstances.
The novel is set in a fictitious country where
people in government levels are they were jockeying for positions,
wealth accumulation and status instead of concerning themselves with
leadership. The citizens are largely an annoyance and irrelevancy -
except, of course, that they can be a source of cash.
The novel delves into the folly of African
governments, their political bootlicking and stupidity. For example, the
self-possessed ruler is featured as a tyrant it is rumoured that the
man bathes in “preserved blood of his enemies”. He is also vain in that
he gets the Global Bank to fund his new pet project, Marching to Heaven.
A huge structure, a sort of modern Tower of Babel,
it would be: “the first and only super-wonder in the history of the
world”, superseding all previous so-called wonders of the world. The
monument is meant simply to satisfy the ego of the leader, ignoring the
national needs. The writer does not fail to notice sycophancy with
Minister for Foreign Affairs Sikiokuu and Minister for State who jostle
to please the ruler (Machokali has had a plastic surgery to enlarge his
eyes to the size of an electric bulb, ostensibly to see the Ruler’s
enemies while Sikiokuu has his ears enlarged for the same purpose).
Among the characters is Kamiti Karimiri who studied in India at a great cost but who remains unemployed.
He meets Nyawiria at an interview who happens to
be Titus Tajrika’s secretary and they hit it off. Afterwards, they are
in the bad books of the police and hide in a house and putting a sign
out front, warning people away in the name of ‘Wizard of the Crow’.
The two forget to remove the sign and eventually,
people believe that they are actually real wizards – he becomes a
combination of sorcerer, healer, and wise man. By mere coincidence, he
is good at it and soon everyone seeks out for him.
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