Not yet uhuru for theatre despite the fine makeover

I must admit the re-opening of the refurbished Kenya National Theatre filled me with a sense of controlled excitement. Despite the pomp and circumstance that surrounded the event, the other side of me that does not fall for fads told a contrasting narrative.

This might sound unpatriotic especially coming from a man who has seen it all. Yes, at its lowest ebb, I saw a rat run across the stage during a performance at the theatre as if it was part of the cast. I agreed with Francis Imbuga who described it as a shrine of tears.

The speakers at the National Theatre fete, including President Kenyatta did not miss to capture the spirit of the moment. Ngugi wa Thing’o’s narration of the events of the 80s should enable  youngsters understand where we have come from.

But those who really want to appreciate the source of the rot of our cultural spaces and the intrigues that inform our actions have other places to get the truth.

I want to take President Kenyatta’s advice of not dwelling too much on the past by simply using the past to make a futuristic statement. Francis Imbuga,  undoubtedly the best playwright East Africa has ever produced, told me in an interview of the events that led him to write the novel Shrine of Tears.

He lamented of the colonial legacy that continued to be perpetuated by those who controlled State apparatus, but did not see much in the role of theatre in development.

The metaphor of shrine of Tears refers both to the National Theatre and the nation at large. But what affected him most was one event referred to during the re-opening of the Theatre: The politics of the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture (Festac 77). Two plays were selected to represent Kenya during this festival: Betrayal in the City and Trial of Dedan Kimathi, in that order. The ideological intrigues played to sideline one of the Kenyan plays can best be read in Shrine of Tears.

SHRINE OF TEARS

While in Nigeria, this ugly game was replayed making one of the Kenyan plays to be staged on a basketball pitch. Listen to Imbuga in his baritone voice while recalling this incident: “Egara, I vowed to write about this in a novel to free myself from the anger I felt for my fellow artists who discriminated against me”. Simply put, some of the seeds of our national ideology of exclusivity were sown by artists at that moment.

This event lays the foundation of my argument. A refurbished Kenya National Theatre will not liberate theatrical spaces without a clear and progressive cultural policy. In fact, it is one of our greatest omissions in the Kenya Vision 2030. The drafters of this blue print meant to guide us in transforming this nation to middle income status thought Kenya should be build only on three pillars: The Economic Pillar, the Political Pillar and the Social Pillar. They never gave thought to the ‘Cultural Pillar’, which is the most important  for any prosperous nation and which would cleanse our shrines of tears and shame. The three pillars are therefore built on quick sand. Let me explain before you brand me unpatriotic.

To aim at a GDP growth of 10 per  cent per year and raise the national savings from 17 per cent to about 30 per  cent are good dreams.  To prioritise education and training, health system, environment, equity and poverty eradication among others is equally important. To aim at building a democratic political system and prioritise rule of law, public service delivery, transparency and accountability are but good aspirations.

However, we cannot ignore the fortitude that comes with a sense of belonging and the pride of our existence. If culture is as Ngugi wa Thiong’o tells in Moving the Centre: The Struggle for Cultural Freedoms, a product of peoples history and a reflection of that history that embodies a whole set of values by which a people view themselves and their place in time and space; then the three pillars must be anchored on culture.

Culture is a fundamental component of development. A vision that does not lay the basis for building the mental and spiritual infrastructure of a people to value the tangible and intangible heritage, creative engineering, forms of artistic expression including literature and film is lame and needs to be revised.

Successful visions world over were anchored on the cultural pillar. The Arusha Declaration of 1967 which has guided the modern day Tanzania was anchored on the cultural pillar represented by one Kiswahili word: Utu. Although Tanzanians have started learning bad manners rather too fast, this pillar is visible in the way they dialogue. Does it surprise you that comedy on our TV stations is a celebration of ethnic stereotyping? If the refurbished National Theatre will be the home of this type of shows, then count me out.

Some Africans have opted to refer to the cultural pillar as Ubuntu. This is basically the essence of knowing you exist as human beings because of others. It is that sense of belonging  that sublimates the self for the good of the country.

CULTURAL ARCHITECTURE

Culture defines the values that guide a people and proposes ways of interacting. We needed the cultural pillar around this philosophy without which we are driven to ethnic Armageddon like sheep to a slaughter house.

Culture should  expand our sense of time, history and social imagination. It should help Kenyans grasp complexities that they hardly comprehend and be able to construct new social realities of inclusivity. This should inevitably influence feelings about ourselves and others with whom we share this country. In essence, this pillar should create a civic tradition that defines how we share common spaces, resources and opportunities.

Building a prosperous nation is not just about economics and physical infrastructure. We have to first recognize the existences of various nations that form Kenya and build a cultural architecture that would pull all these nations towards a goal. The cultural pillar would help Kenyans look at ethnic particularism as backward. Building one nation out of many nations isn’t easy especially when the nation has political manipulators. We can have Thika Super Highway, Konza City and many other symbols, but without a cultural pillar that would  build a spirit of nationalism and  belonging, we are building a fanciful facade of a nation. That is why it is not yet uhuru for our Shrine of Tears.

What the cultural pillar should do is to build a new consciousness. The National Theatre should be a symbol of this national consciousness. The pillar should prioritize what Louis Althusser calls Ideological State Apparatuses (ISA’s). These are institutions, which generate ideologies, which we as individuals internalize and act in accordance with. These apparatus include the arts and literature which have the capacity to instill a new national consciousness.

The cultural pillar should act as a reconstructive force that should initiate intercultural dialogue to restore trust in one another and build a national common sense that would save us from what is visibly tragic national masochism.