Ngugi wa Thiong'o to be feted by Kenyans in diaspora

The ceremony set to take place in June will see Kenyans in the United States and Canada gather at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia, to give the celebrated Kenyan novelist and perennial Nobel Prize for Literature contender his flowers when he can have them. 

Speaking of the event, KDA-USA founding president Dr. Saisi Marasa said the event will bring together scholars, students, and Kenyans and Africans living in America. 

"Ngũgĩ has been prolific for six decades, since his first novel, Weep Not, Child was published in 1964. With over 30 books published, spanning multiple genres from novels, to plays, to a collection of poems, children’s literature, essays, some in his native Kikuyu language, Ngugi remains the most prolific writer in Africa," Marasa said.

He added: "He is the most deserving, a globally recognised and celebrated author all over the world, but he is yet to be recognised with a commendation by his country of birth. This is a shame. If he died today, he will be given a state burial."

Marasa asserted that Ngugi’s contribution to Pan-Africanism, his quest for an African identity, promotion of the usage of African language and culture should be lauded. 

His sentiments were echoed by Mukurima Muriuki, a Los Angeles-based conflict resolutions consultant and member of the KDA-USA, who said: "In America such people get a Medal of Honor by the President, they get statues and celebration. To this day, he only has one honorary degree from Kenyan institutions, and not even from his alma mater. At 86, he certainly deserves his flowers.”

Muriuki added that Kenya owes Ngugi reparations for the time he unjustly spent in jail, separated from his family and loved ones. 

“He had to also go to exile for the sake of a better Kenya. It’s hard to find such breed. And all he deserves is a thank you,” Muriuki avers.

Novelist Silas Nyanchwani termed the move to honour Ngugi as long overdue, but happy to see those in the Diaspora do it.

“Ngugi changed the literary landscape, not just in Kenya, but in Africa and globally. People are beginning to see the sense of protecting our languages as you now see many people publishing in their mother tongue, movies and films and plays in mother tongue and being wholeheartedly embraced," Nyanchwani said.

He added: “Ngugi deserves statues in our universities, to be named named after schools, institutes and cultural centres for his immense contributions."

Ngugi's impassioned championing of African native language has divided the world literati community into two camps for several decades. A good number have supported his quest, more have opposed it, and a few quite ambivalent. 

For more than a decade, his name has appeared on every list of possible winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature, and was expected to be the second black African to win it after Wole Soyinka in 1986.

But in 2021, the Nobel Committee shocked his followers when they awarded the prize to Zanzibar-born Tanzanian-British writer Abdulrazak Gurnah.