Politics and art – there’s no tomorrow without a yesterday

What you need to know:

  • The Nairobi Gallery, one of the oldest buildings in Nairobi, next to Nyayo House, was set to disappear until Donovan, the creator of Africa Heritage, together with other far-sighted Kenyans, rallied to rescue it.
  • This certain “animalness” that has got into us is not restricted to recruitment processes. It has become a widespread survival attitude. It is the collapse of the rule of law. 


Ugly pictures were splashed all over the media on Tuesday. They were taken at the police recruitment exercise.

The candidates, who could be referred to as victims, were being examined in a public parade. They were topless and semi-naked. Upon being called, they exhibited their torsos, muscles, or lack of them, their teeth or lack thereof.

This reminded me of the Nairobi Show and the Kitengela auction. Bulls, cows and goats are brought forth and examined. It’s an amusing parade. The buyer looks at the teeth, texture and weight; this one is good for meat, milk, heavy labour… and the show goes on, buying and selling.

I shouldn’t describe here what makes the best bull the best, but it seems we use the same parameters for these young recruits.

Why would anyone parade candidates like bulls or cows or goats? Why do we treat each other like animals? It looked strikingly similar to the parade in 12 Years a Slave.

'ANIMAL' NATURE

Times have changed, but perhaps our mentality has not. This test should be medical, not veterinary. How can we expect these young recruits to act human if they are publicly exhibited and chosen like animals?

Moses Kosgey (left), the Administration Police superintendent in Eldoret East Sub-County, looks on as Inspector Aden Ibrahim scrutinizes one of the youths who turned up during the recruitment of constables at Kipchoge Keino Stadium in Eldoret on July 14, 2014. PHOTO/JARED NYATAYA

The answer goes back to colonial times. This is how home guards were chosen. They were not supposed to think, to ponder, to have imagination, or to have initiative.

It sounds hard and harsh, but the less they thought, the more they obeyed and therefore, the better they were.

Neither the Police Service recruits nor the National Youth Service recruits are home guards. The government and society don’t want them to be.

Times have changed. Life is more sophisticated, and unless a man or woman of arms believes in his or her country, and unless his or her dignity is respected, safeguarded and nurtured, then such a person is dangerously close to a terrorist who has been chosen on account of his or her “animal” nature.

DISTORTED VALUES

When the choice is based on “animalness” the only difference between police recruits and terrorists is the chain of command. And this chain can easily break. Their values are distorted, or simply absent. The links are treacherously weak.

This certain “animalness” that has got into us is not restricted to recruitment processes. It has become a widespread survival attitude. It is the collapse of the rule of law. It changes our way of thinking, and we become overly pragmatic.

The beautiful things of life matter no more. Music, art, honesty, legacy, all become meaningless and useless words; good only for dreamers and fools.

Some of the comments to last week’s article on African Heritage House made me realize that we need a deeper self-examination, at a personal level, but also as a people, as a country.

Some said: “I haven’t seen that house, pull it down!” or “this is a trick to attract tourists,” or “it was built by an American, how can this be African?” Look for a moment at these three comments, with all due respect to the commentators, and let’s reflect on these views.

The first one reminds me of the amazing ability we have to ignore problems. This done, parents, teachers, drivers, politicians, bury their head to worrying realities.

DENYING REALITY

Once in a school examination, the teacher asked his students to prove that the chair, which was in front of them all, did not exist. The youngsters set themselves to write furiously, except for one young boy, who was distractedly looking out of the window.

He finished his exam in a few seconds, and got full marks. He had written two words: “which chair?”

Denial of the evident is the satisfaction of the ignorant. Judging by these parameters, we would pull down the whole world, for we haven’t seen it.

The second comment is equally shallow. Every museum, every National Park, every nice lodge and hotel, the Eiffel Tower, the Coliseum, Maasai Mara Game Reserve, Nakuru National Park, they are all tricks to attract tourists.

Who is a tourist? A tourist is not the fool who goes around the world with an innocent smile buying wooden carvings for twenty times the real price.

Perhaps this is why we are struggling to keep the number of visitors in Kenya just at around 1.3 million, when France has 83 million, Spain 60 million, Italy 48 million, tiny Dominican Republic 4.6 million, Singapore 11 million, Morocco 9.3 million, and run-down Mozambique 2.1 million. Uganda is fast catching up with 1.1 million visitors and tiny Rwanda with 800,000.

FROM HOTELS TO GHOST HOUSES

Many hotels, north and south of Mombasa are now ghost houses. Many men and women have lost their bread, joining the unemployed. This is having a ripple effect on society and the economy as a whole. It came at a bad time when tea and coffee prices have also plummeted. The “trick” went wrong, and we can’t be happy about it.

The third comment is simply racist, which leads us back to the beginning of the article. We become racists when we “animalise” ourselves. For the racist, what matters is the species not the idea.

I do not have any personal gain in Heritage House. I have been there. I like it. Everyone who has been there likes it. The objects it contains are not its only value. Those can truly be moved. But every pattern and shape on its walls speaks for a culture.

The fact that it was not done by an African should raise eyebrows: Why should an American do this? The fact is that endangered African, and specifically Kenyan, art treasures would have already disappeared if he had not protected them.

ATTITUDES TO ARTS AND CULTURE

This is worrisome. Why are there so few historical buildings in Kenya, and mostly in ruins here and there? Even the Nairobi Gallery, one of the oldest buildings in Nairobi, next to Nyayo House, was set to disappear until Donovan, the creator of Africa Heritage, together with other far-sighted Kenyans, rallied to rescue it. It now exhibits a big portion of the Murumbi Collection.

Donovan harboured and nurtured many international talents that owe their success to a crazy American in love with African art.  The question we should ask ourselves is: Why Donovan? Why should Magdalene Odundo, whom Donovan nurtured and hosted for her first exhibition, work in London and not in Kenya?

Did we know that one of her clay pots is the first thing a visitor sees at the London Museum? And that they are valued at anything between 200,000 and 500,000 pounds?

Music is facing a similar fate. Why should Bob Collymore rush to rescue Elizabeth Njoroge’s beautiful National Orchestra? Why does Elizabeth need to plead with donors to get African music written for wind, percussion and strings?

NO TOMORROW WITHOUT YESTERDAY

Why should Lupita remain in Hollywood? Why should Iman be declared the most beautiful woman on earth, yet very few know her in Kenya?

Perhaps we trust oral tradition too much. We see no value in objects and buildings. We have destroyed them all, and the few standing ones seem too new to us to protect. Old buildings and artefacts don’t seem to speak to us about yesterday, at least not yet. But, there is no tomorrow without a yesterday.

Without history there is no sense of identification, sense of belonging. Life is moving too fast, it has become too sophisticated, and oral tradition is no longer sufficient.

Unless we understand this, and reflect a bit deeper on our sense of belonging, of identity, we will continue treating each other as animals and see nothing wrong with it. Open your mouth, let’s look at your teeth; you are good, you are not! Next one please!