Writing for Kenya
Page 38
e ‘ Corfi eld Report’]), 304–05. More generally see, Justin Willis, Potent Brews: A social history of alcohol in East Africa 1850–1999 (Oxford: James Currey, 2002).
125. ‘If you remain conscious’ is ũngĩikara wĩiguĩte, ‘if you stay awake’ or ‘self aware’, as when waking from a stupor.
126. In this section Muoria acknowledges how much Africans owe to European
knowledge. See above, Lonsdale’s chapter, section on ‘What then should we do’, for discussion of how, two years later, he argued for the African origins of human knowledge, possibly in answer to Gakaara wa Wanjau’s thesis that European colonialism had engendered a slave mentality in Africans but also, more certainly, in angry retort to the then Governor, Sir Philip Mitchell, who in a radio broadcast in 1947 had, in Muoria’s words, given a message ‘heart breaking to Africans; . . . a scolding and scornful message, saying that the people who are braying like donkeys when giving speeches are not able to do anything because they cannot make roads, bridges, or steam engines and they cannot make motor cars or make clothes. . . .’ Muoria retorted that the Kikuyu had never claimed to be able to make things and that precolonial self-rule was happier than life under colonial rule, with its pass laws, thieves, imported diseases, and the confusion, too, of the many religions [he meant many Christian denominations] introduced by whites.
All that Kikuyu wanted was the opportunity to prove themselves to be as wise as the British. From Muoria’s editorial, ‘Th
e Present Battle is the Brain Battle’, Mumenyereri
24 Nov 1947: KNA, MAA 8/106. See also, Bodil Folke Frederiksen, ‘ “Th
e Present Battle
is the Brain Battle”: Writing and Publishing a Kikuyu Newspaper in the Pre-Mau Mau Period in Kenya’, in Karin Barber (ed.), Africa’s Hidden Histories: Everyday Literacy
250
chapter four
and Making the Self (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006), 278–313. Muoria’s criticism of the confusing number of ‘religions’ echoed Kenyatta’s complaints earlier in the year, for which see ‘Jomo Kenyatta is our Reconciler’ later in this volume.
127. ‘Narrowing’ is gũkunderia, the ‘constricting’ of a road (Benson, 236).
128. ‘Broadening’ is kũaramia, which when referring to a path means ‘to cause to become clear’ (Benson, 14). Th
e same word also connotes ‘to enrich’, so this sentence
might also promise an ‘enriching of the thoughts’ to the person who loves.
129. Ũgi wothe wa githomo, ‘All the ũgi of reading’. Muoria here is referring to the skills-based education that students learned in school.
130. Ahoi, ‘tenants’ or ‘borrowers’. Ahoi in the nineteenth century had oft en been allies of prosperous landholders, off ering cattle and labour in return for the right to cultivate. But by the 1940s Kikuyu property relations were strained, as wealthy capitalists sought to consolidate their holdings. It was this process that gave form to proverbs like mũhoi ndairaga, ‘a tenant has no option’ or ‘cannot complain’ (Barlow, fi le1786/6: ‘Proverbs, notes’, n.d. [but 1950s]). Tenancy relations were always governed by a careful etiquette. At a 1929 meeting in south Nyeri district, a group of wealthy chiefs and landholders described how ‘if a person moves and requests land, he must ask permission . . . he goes to the landholder and says “I want to become as your child and to serve you” . . . If he becomes disobedient to his adopted clan he can be turned out and can take nothing with him . . . In all things (he) must obey his landlord’ (Barlow, fi le Gen. 762: Record of evidence given by natives at barazas held by the land tenure commission, South Nyeri, 25 September 1929). Muoria here compares whites off ended by black people’s self-assertion with equally indignant Kikuyu landholders.
131. Muoria here appears to compare building knowledge to building a thatched mud hut.
132. Th
e off ended speaker here asks why self-assertive black people do not borrow
with ũhoreri, ‘coolness’ or ‘calm’, the courtesy tenants were required to show their betters.
133. Th
e Gikuyu here refers to the ‘only true ũgĩ’.
134. Ahũni, a ‘vagabond, town loafer, rough, hooligan’ (Benson, 177). It was a common term for urban youth in both Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, so Muoria is here voicing a common complaint, held as much by self-respecting Africans as by nervous whites.
135. Th
e word used for ‘rebellious’ here is ti mwathĩki, ‘not obedient.’
136. Again, in London, Muoria had second thoughts, calling not for the elimination of ahuni but for elimination of their animal nature. ( I, the Gikuyu, 117).
137. Th
e word here is wendani, reciprocal love.
138. A mundu mugo is a ‘wise man’, sometimes called a ‘medicine man’ or ‘witchdoctor’.
139. For Muoria to choose to illustrate selfi shness, or lack of tha, compassion, with this example suggests (as was clearly the case) that car ownership was only for the privileged few among Africans at this time.
140. Sweeping was a central part of a mũndũ mũgo’s restorative work. A person contaminated by contact with uncivil substances—the dung of wild animals, a dead body—was ritually swept by mũgo, using a broom of leaves dipped in medicinal substances. Th
is process was called kũmũtiirĩra, from the verb tiira, to ‘build up’. Th eir
homes were then swept out, and the sweepings were deposited in a distant rubbish-heap.
See, Leakey, Southern Kikuyu, 656; and Barlow, fi le Gen. 1785/3: notes on tiira.
141. ‘Peace’ is thayu, which is also ‘blessings’.
142. Th
e Gikuyu phrase is ũtonga ti ũgĩ, ‘wealth is not ũgĩ’.
143. Th
e verb here is - menithia, to ‘cause to be hated’.
144. In the voice of the ignorant Muoria calls the whites Comba: see note 120
above.
what should we do, our people?
251
145. Muoria criticizes those of his readers who presume that white colonists will simply disappear from their country. Th
e seer Mugo wa Kibiru had in the nineteenth
century foretold the arrival of white strangers, promising that once Kikuyu had learned the secrets of their power, they would depart. In 1939 Mbiyu Koinange, newly returned from his masters degree studies in America, opened a training college at Githunguri to serve teachers working in ‘independent’, Kikuyu-run schools. Many Kikuyu saw the opening of Githunguri to be the fulfi lment of Mugo’s prophecy, a mark of Kikuyu attainment and a portent of the whites’ departure. Muoria here may be reminding his readers that Mugo’s prophecy demanded of Kikuyu a disciplined willingness to learn, without reservation, the ways of white outsiders—a theme he introduced in section 32 above. For Mugo’s place in Kikuyu thought, see John Lonsdale, ‘Th
e Prayers of
Waiyaki’, in David Anderson and Douglas Johnson (eds.), Revealing prophets (London: James Currey, 1995), 240–291.
146. Th
e word used for ‘spirits’ is ngoma, the word by which Gikuyu referred to the ‘spirits’ of their departed ancestors.
147. Kikuyu in the nineteenth century seem to have regarded ngoma not as ‘wicked’
but as unpredictable: one proverb has it that ngoma itiri muhakire, ‘it is diffi cult to
appease (or shut out) ngoma’ (Barlow, fi le Gen. 1786/6: Kikuyu linguistics). Ngoma were known to intrude on their descendants’ livelihood, bringing misfortune on those who ignored them. Missionaries treated ngoma with circumspection: early dictionaries agree that ngoma were ‘the spirits of the departed’, not satanic but irrelevant (Beechers, 156). But in the 1940s and ’50s Kikuyu preachers seem to have embellished the Kikuyu people’s distrust of ngoma. By 1964, Benson could defi ne ngoma as ‘evil spirits’ or even
‘devils’ (Benson, 311). An alternate translation for this last sentence could therefore be
‘Povert
y is evil, it is brought by devils, the source of all evil’.
148. Th
e word ‘cultures’ is mitũrire, ‘way of living’, from the verb - tũũra, ‘to stay’.
149. Th
e Gikuyu refers to a rũgiri, the fence of quick growing plants that home-steaders grew around their houses. In his London exile Muoria later changed the stone fence into a stone wall: I, the Gikuyu, 121–23.
150. ‘Courteous heart’ is ngoro ya uhoreri, a ‘spirit of conciliation’.
GUKA KWA NJAMBA IITU NENE
JOMO KENYATTA
(1) Ngeithi cia Muthamaki witu Jomo Kinyatta
Ichaweri Ng’enda
P. O. Ruiru,
25–10–46
Kuri nyumba ya Mumbi yothe handu yaruma: Ngumugeithia na
ngoro yakwa yothe iiyuiruo na ngatho nene, na gikeno kinene, ni
undu Mwene-Nyaga niatuteithitie na agatuhe hinya wa kuonana na
kugeithania na moko.
Ndingiona ciugo njiganu cia kuhota kumucokeria muhera ni undu
woria munyamukurite na wendo na tugi munene.
Kahinda karia kanini njikarite hamwe na inyui, cioko cianyu niin-
yonetie ati ti itheru mwina wendo na kiyo gia gutungatira na gukuruai
bururi witu uria twagaiiruo ni Mwene-Nyaga.
Ngwihoka ati wendo ucio na kiyo kiu niigutuhotithia tytware bururi
witu na mbere thi-ini wa gucariria ciana ciitu uugi munene wa meciria
magima, na uhoreri wa ngoro, na utheru wa miiri na micii.
O na ningi tuhote gutungatira na kumenyerera runyondo rua Mumbi
na niruo ng’undu iitu. Naguo uguo ni kuga ati kiguni giitu kiria kinene
kigiritanitie na kiyo kia umenyereri wa tiri witu.
Ngumumenyithia ati ihinda riri andu airu a mabururi mothe ni
marahukite mena kwihokana na mena meciria mega na ma uthingu
makuruta mawira maria mena uguni na gwiteithia.
Riu na ithui nitwihũge tutigatuike magondereri maroa makorire rui
ruaiyura. Kana muhoi uria utagathimaga.
Giukirei riu tunyitane hamwe twina kiyo na uiguaniri tuhote kwiruta
mawira magima na ma gutura tene na tene mena kiguni hari ciana cia
Mumbi.
Riu undu uria wa mbere ndiririirie na ngoro yakwa yothe, ni twambe
tuonere ciana cia Mumbi nyumba umwe njega ya kuhigira. Nyonete ati
mbere ya maundu maria mangi mothe nitwagiriiruo twambe turikie
CHAPTER FIVE
THE HOME COMING OF OUR GREAT HERO1
JOMO KENYATTA
(1) Greetings of our spokesman Kenyatta 2
Ichaweri Ng’enda3
P. O. Box Ruiru.
25–10–46
To the members of the House of Mumbi wherever they may be,4
I am greeting you with all my heart which is full of gratitude and
great happiness because Almighty God5 has enabled us in a way that
has helped us to fi nd the necessary strength to shake hands and see
one another with warm feelings.
I cannot fi nd words good enough to off er you all my thanks for the
kindness you have shown me, by your hospitality in welcoming me
with love and generosity combined with great magnanimity.
[In] the little time I have been able to spend with you, your actions
have clearly shown that you are not joking but are very serious indeed,
and full of great love to serve and uplift our country which was given
us by Almighty God as our due inheritance.6
I trust that such love and energy on your part are going to enable us
to make progress for our country and look for great wisdom7 for our
children, to give them a sound mind and integrity of heart, cleanliness
of bodies and homes. While at the same time we are enabled to serve
and take care of our teat at the breast of our mother Mumbi, which
means our land.8 Th
at is to say that our greatest benefi t is associated
with the energy we put into taking care of our land, our beloved soil.
I want to let you know that this time, black people of all other coun-
tries have woken up with full trust in one another, with good thoughts
and honest intentions to do good works by way of self-help.9 We too
ought to be prepared to do our good work so that we do not become
like those procrastinators in the legend who are said to have found that
the river they had to cross had [meanwhile] overfl owed its banks. Or
even to become like beggars who are said never to have got enough
[meat?] to be able to roast it.
254
chapter five
gwaka mucii uria mwambiriirie Githunguri, ni guo ucio utuike kiheo
na kiririkano gia ithe witu Gikuyu na Nyina witu Mumbi.
Notuike wakunoorera kana kuhigiria ciana cia mihiriga yothe ya andu
airu a East Africa. Niundu utungatiri uria ndiratuire naguo ona uria
ndinaguo riu niwakwenda gukuria nduriri ciothe hatari guthutukania
ati uyu nu kana nu.
Th
aaaai wa Mwene-Nyaga, niutunyitithanie na utwikire kiyo turute
wira ucio twi na wendo.
Ni ndungata yanyu.
Jomo Kinyatta, 25–10–46.
(2) Wega Wa Ngathiti Ya ‘Mumenyereri’
Kiambiriria kia ngathiti cia andu airu iria ikuo matuku maya. Ni
Mumenyereri wa maunda mothe. Mega ma Ugikuyu. Ngathiti io ni
ngathe muno niciana cia Mumbi handu ciaruma ningi noyo yonanitie
uhoro wothe wa njamba ino nene ti Jomo Kinyatta, o kinya ciana cia
Mumbi ikona utheri ika hotha mbeca ikamugira.
Riu wakoruo nduthomaga Mumenyereri ukiri wakabira iriku?
Nikieha kinene mwana Mugikuyu atuikite Muthwairi.
Th
oma Mumenyereri mahinda mothe.
the home coming of our great hero jomo kenyatta
255
Arise all of you, let us hold one another, determined to work hard,
with the unity that enables us to do good work for our country that lasts
for ever and ever, and is for the great benefi t of Mumbi’s children.
Now then, what fi lls my heart with most desire is that we should, fi rst
of all, fi nd a better house where our children of Mumbi can be educated.
I think that before we do anything else, we ought to fi nish building the
house which you started at Githunguri, so that it may become a gift
and memorial to our father Gikuyu and our mother Mumbi.10
It would also become an example and a place where the children of
all tribes11 could be educated. Th
is is because the service I have been
performing, and intend to perform now, is concerned with my desire
to uplift all Africans without discriminating as to who is this and who
is that.
May the peace of Almighty God help to bind us together and enable
us to work hard with enthusiasm and enough love for our country and
people.
Your servant
Jomo Kenyatta—25–10–46
(2) Th
e Value Of Mumenyereri
Th
e start of all the African newspapers that are found today is ‘Mumen-
yereri’, or Th
e Guardian of all that is noble in the tradition of the Kikuyu
tribe.12 It is the newspaper praised by many people or the children of Mumbi wherever they are. It is the only newspaper to have given publicity to our great Hero Jomo Kenyatta. It has thus shown people the
light that enabled them to subscribe the money with which they paid
his fare and brought him home.
If you do not read Mumenyereri, what tribe are yo
u? 13 It is sad to
see a member of the Kikuyu tribe become Swahili.14 You should take
to reading Mumenyereri every time.
256
chapter five
(3) Guka Kwa Njamba Iitu Nene Jomo Kenyatta
Kumenyithania uhoro wa kabuku gaka:
Kabuku gaka ni uhoro munene muno kuri andu aria meciragia. Tondu
riitwa riako riandikitwo ‘Guka Kwa Njamba Iitu Nene Jomo Kinyatta’.
Nakuo guka kuu gitumi gia gutuike kunene ni tondu, matuku maingi
mahituku thu cia ruriri ruitu niikoretwo ikihunjiria andu aingi ati
Kenyatta ndagacoka, ona andu amwe makoiga ati mekuhaica mbarathi
ciao moige Kinyatta ndakanacoke. Ona makihaica na makigeria
guthukia uhoro wa ruriri/ruru rurathime o uria kwahoteka, andu aingi
magikana riitwa ria ruriri ruao o kinya umuthi ni kuri andu gikundi
aria maiguaga riitwa ria Ugikuyu wao riagwetwo magethithimukwo
ni kurimena.
Tondu ucio guka gwa Kinyatta ni gutoria mbara nene, na ni uira
wakuonania ati undu uria murathime ni Ngai, hatiri mundo wa thi
ungihota kuuthukia. Njamba ta Kinyatta nicio andu aria matayaga
gukariganira ori ori. Na ni munyaka munene kuri ithui andu aria twi
muoyo, amu nituramuona na maitho, njiarua iria igoka thutha niikora-
gia koruo ni ciamuonire na maitho, ona kana cigue mugambo wake
toria ithui turamuigua. Kabuku gaka gakiandikitwo nigetha gathomwo
ni andu aria Ngai ahete umenyo matuku maya na gathomwo ni ciana
cia macukuru, makiria macuru ma ciana cia mumbi kiumbe. Nigetha
mamenyage uhoro wa Njamba iria yatumire cukuru icii cioneke, na
agituma Agikuyu aingi aria moi, na matoi, mahego ithaka, na agituma
andu airu metikirio magie na aririria ao ciamaini cia Th
irikari. Ningi
maundu maria riu atanyite ni manene, namo niwega andu maikare
mamerigiriire, tondu riu uhoro nduri urakinya muthia. Turi o njira
no turathii, twi mihang’o-ini noturetunguma nia uria warahukite nia-
rahure uria wi toto. Nake mwandiki egucokeria Ngai muhera tondu
wagutuma uhoro uyu wothe ugere maithoini make, na meciria-ini
make, ona moko-ini make o kinya ugagukinyira we muthomi uhana
uguo uhana riu.
Kuona gwake, kuigwa gwake, na kiyo giake, kiria Ngai amuhete nikio