Admittedly, I admire this author. However, his ideas are just too infeasible and loaded with tons of hypocrisy and I believe it’s the time this guy retired somewhere and focus on enjoying his retirement.
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[li]First, how do you live in the US and then come to lecture us about how we should be proud of our languages? How do you tell Kenyans to be proud of their language while using the English language to say that??? When your wife speaks with a twang?[/li][li]Second, if he’s too much into those kikuyu traditions, he should have long brought his kids here and let them learn in schools somewhere in central Kenya where even English is taught in vernacular.[/li][li]If he is too much into this linguistic utopia, he should open up a kikuyu college and be teaching the kikuyu language.[/li][li]Why the irritating obsession with Mau Mau yet we all know what the group did to fellow kikuyus??? If he is objective, why doesn’t he strongly point out the failings of Mau Mau instead of romantising them??[/li][li]So, he is always singing of how he tried to ‘empower’ peasants through theatre; can he admit he was just using them to develop his reputation? If I am helpless, the last thing I want to hear from you is the nonsense about ‘cultural empowerment’. If you want to liberate me, help me get a job not trying to feed me with some unworkable ideologies!!![/li][li]Why is he against capitalism yet he lives in the US, the very epicentre of global capitalism???[/li][li]So, if we go back to our mother tongues, how will we conduct business with the global community?[/li][li]If a kikuyu writes a novel in the Gikuyu language, how many of them kikuyus will read the book? Today, how many kikuyus have bought Ngugi’s books that are written in Gikuyu???[/li][li]Why is it that this Ngugi only comes to Kenya when he wants to launch a new book?[/li][li]Since, in the 70’s, Ngugi and Co were so obsessed with Marxism and the various strands of communism, why weren’t they sharing their salaries with the peasants that they were supposedly defending from the brutalities of capitalism? Jesus walked the talk through getting crucified for the sake of humanity; how many of these scholars and their tentacles in the name of ‘human rights’ activists are willing to give a cup of water to a dying child when no cameras are present???[/li][/ol]
Realistically, these so called African scholars have lost contact with reality. For hell’s sake, this is the 21st century and, like it or not, English will remain the dominant language of commerce and technology- at least in the foreseeable future.
If we want to do away with everything that’s related to the white man, we should be ready to throw away technology, houses and even clothes so that we can go back to wearing skins. Ngugi should have no problem leading us back to our ‘undiluted past’
What I have noted is that most of African scholars simply want to live in the West then keep on giving us lectures about how African leaders are corrupt and why we need ‘democratic space’ blah blah
Most Kenyans want jobs, security, food, housing and not some lofty ideas about ‘decolonising the mind’ . In any case, if it is about ‘decolonising’ ourselves, it would be much better if the likes of Ngugi preached about decolonising our minds from greed, hatred, jealousy and slander.
I would rather live with a kind, humble and generous person who is mentally ‘colonised’ by the whites and who fakes an American accent than live with a ‘decolonised’ selfish, proud and hateful African who fully professes his African roots.
Personally, I will be more proud of an African scholar who uses his fame to seek scholarships/openings for the bright sons and daughters of his village than the scholar who writes loftily about the need to stick to one’s culture.
Granted, we really need to stop thinking that the white man is superior to us but at the same time we must be ready to ‘steal’ some of his stuff like language and technology in order to empower us.
If Kenya will become industrialised through adopting the English language, then let it be so. We can use the English language and at the same time be fully committed to our last remaining cultural identities but thinking about how a Luhya computer programmer will start thinking of programming in his mother tongue is pure baloney.
If you are scholar, stop advancing your career through pretending that you’re speaking on behalf of the ‘masses’. BTW, who told these scholars/activists that the masses want them to be their spokespersons??? Who told them that Karl Marx want someone to speak on his behalf??