Chepkura and my ode to Laboso, Mutua, Nyong’o

PHOTO | KEVIN ODIT | FILE

Makueni’s Prof Kivutha Kibwana has been an acquaintance since our first meeting in Machakos in 1977, during his UoN student days.

What you need to know:

  • In other words, my own “teaching” as a mwalimu was on trial through my students who had decided to throw their hats into the ring of political competition.
  • For obvious reasons, I could not afford to be partisan, rooting for this party or that alliance. My competing relatives, friends, students and other acquaintances belong to all shades of political persuasion. What united us, and still unites us, is the set of civilised values by which we conduct our lives and our social relationships.
  • Among the Kenyans with whom I live, gender equity and ethnic neutrality are paramount.

We all want to be allied with a winner. So, I can hardly resist the temptation to bask in the glory of my successful friends, and advertise to all and sundry my close association with them. This is the kind of “name-dropping” I am talking about, not removal from the various registers.

The first famous Kenyan winner of the elections to receive my congratulations is Ms Hellen Chepkura of Pokot County! Do you remember her? She is the plucky little lady who decided to enter this world almost literally in a voters’ queue at the Konyau Mixed Secondary School polling station. Her Kenyan name suggests “Daughter of the Vote” (kura in Kiswahili). “Hellen” evokes both Greece, where the democratic vote was invented, and also the legendary queen whose extraordinary presence led to a total reorganisation of the ancient Mediterranean world.

For me, Chepkura and her mother, Paulina Chemanang, who cast her vote shortly after being delivered of the baby by her fellow voters, symbolise the true spirit of Kenyan voters, and maybe Kenyan democracy.

The “nane nane” exercise was certainly a labour process of its own kind. The fact that it delivered a live outcome about which we are deliberating in various fora is a big plus for all wananchi, regardless of whether they or their parties were elected or not.

We need not gloss over the shortcomings and the grievances. I have been following with keen interest the many articulate disappointments expressed by many of my close friends, both personally and on social media. Since many of these are or are soon to be “sub judice”, the less said about them the better.

But my take is that the reservations and even some bitterness about these elections and their immediate aftermath arise from the justifiably very high expectations that Kenyans have of their country. This is Kenya 2017, and nothing short of perfection is to be tolerated. Well, perfection is a highly desirable state, but it is not an easily attainable ideal.

HUMBLED AND AWED

Be that as it may, I am humbled and awed by the maturity and seriousness with which my Kenyan relatives and friends, the wananchi, approached the mtihani (test). So far, we are all “Kipkuras” and “Chepkuras”, regardless of which corner of Kenya we come from. Whether elected or not, none of us should consider themselves losers.

Teasing, destructive violence and forceful repression are utterly repulsive and unacceptable against this background.  

You may remember what I said some months ago when I declared my interest in the Kenyan general elections. I hinted that there were so many of my close acquaintances, especially my former students, in the various races that I could not help feeling that I, too, was “directly” involved.

In other words, my own “teaching” as a mwalimu was on trial through my students who had decided to throw their hats into the ring of political competition.

For obvious reasons, I could not afford to be partisan, rooting for this party or that alliance. My competing relatives, friends, students and other acquaintances belong to all shades of political persuasion. What united us, and still unites us, is the set of civilised values by which we conduct our lives and our social relationships.

Among the Kenyans with whom I live, gender equity and ethnic neutrality are paramount.

I confess that I cannot state with any certainty the ethnicity of most of my neighbours or workmates. If you go by names, or even language, you may be miles and miles out, as names travel faster than light in our global family.

Ask Wanjohi wa Makokha, or one of my best friends, Professor Helen Mugambi, a specialist in literary and gender studies. Since she speaks Luganda, she is often assumed to be a relative of the eminent Ugandan mathematician, Prof Paul Mugambi. Yet Helen derives her Mugambi name from her connections with the slopes of Mount Kenya, where the name is also common.

Speaking of gender equity, Chepkura reminds me of the pact I made with my Machakos students, in 2015, that I was not to depart until I see a Kenyan lady President. We seem to be edging closer to that. But of course we are not going to wait till Chepkura is of the right age for that.

NAME-DROPPING

I hope Bomet Governor-elect Joyce Laboso is listening. Did I say I was going to drop names? I cannot help wondering if David Mulwa, the late Wamere Dadet and I, accidentally, taught Governor Laboso anything at KU that she might find useful in her elevated office.

I have not met either of the other lady Governors-elect, but I remember the enthusiasm my little niece, Josephine (now sadly departed), had for Ms Charity Kaluki Ngilu, when she ran for the Presidency in 1997. I think I took Josephine a campaign poster of Ms Ngilu to Kampala.

But it is not only the ladies I notice. Among the Governors-elect, for example, Prof Peter Anyang Nyong’o of Kisumu gives me yet another chance to boast of our long acquaintance, stretching back to our Makerere days. In fact, I had wished for him to vie for the Governorship rather than the Senate in 2013.

Back to Ukambani, Makueni’s Prof Kivutha Kibwana has been an acquaintance since our first meeting in Machakos in 1977, during his UoN student days. Speaking of Machakos, my “home” county, Dr Alfred Mutua’s hospitality and that of his County Secretary, Mr Francis Mwaka, on my last homecoming is still fresh in my mind.

I was particularly touched by Dr Mutua’s invitation to Ms Wavinya Ndeti to work together after the elections. Yaliyopita si ndwele (let bygones be bygones). I will be coming home again soon, to start work on the “Reading Room” that is gaining momentum every day. I have no doubts about the welcome.

Meanwhile, to all my acquaintances who were elected, or otherwise honourably competed, do send me the good news, so that I can congratulate you, and bask further in your glory.

 

Prof Bukenya is one of the leading scholars of English and Literature in East Africa. [email protected]