“When Winston was born, lots of fairies swooped down on his cradle with gifts – imagination, eloquence, industry, ability – and then came a fairy who said: ‘No person has a right to so many gifts,’ picked him up, and gave him such a shake and twist that he was denied judgment and wisdom’. This quotation is attributed to Stanley Baldwin, a former British Prime Minister when he commented on Winston Churchill’s lack of wisdom and poor judgment.
After the mean fairy was done with taking away the excess gifts given to Winston, it must have visited many other cradles and removed that which makes men wise. One such cradle must have been that of a baby boy named Indagasi, a name that means “dagger” among his people. The fairy didn’t know the potency of this boy’s name, otherwise, it could not have removed the gift of good judgment and wisdom from a boy who held a dagger in his hand.
While hiding the dagger under the cloaks of academic brilliance both as a student and as a lecturer, the boy now baptized Henry Indagasi, flourished and was one time the chair of the Department of Literature at the University of Nairobi (it is feared that many might have tasted the sting of his dagger on his rise to the top!) This was a seat once occupied by Professor Ngugi wa Thiong’o whose death a few weeks ago shocked the world.
In a widely circulated tribute to the fallen hero in a Kenyan daily last week, Professor Henry Indagasi displayed poor judgment by talking ill of a dead person, a taboo in African communities. In the article, he stubbed the late Ngugi wa Thiong’o after unfrocking him in front of his family and millions of literary orphans. What he shared was not a tribute, but vitriol aimed at the face of our fallen literary hero. It was meant to hurt, not console. Whether his allegations are true or not matters little at this time of mourning.
This is not the first time Professor Indagasi is tearing at the image of a literary icon who has rested. A while ago, he thrust his dagger and turned it around for maximum damage, into the image of the late Professor Micere Mugo, a compatriot and co-author with Ngugi wa Thiong’o. To the late Chinua Achebe, another African literary icon, he found nothing good to write about.
A colourful day-long memorial for Ngugi wa Thiong’o was held at the University of Nairobi a few days ago. Among those who attended were his family, the original cast of his Gĩkũyũ language play Ngahika Ndeda, his publisher, and the university community. This could have been a perfect stage for Indagasi, an Emeritus Professor at the same university, to share his memories (whether good or bad) of his old colleague. But Prof Indagasi was conspicuously absent.
These attacks show Professor Indagasi as an elder who judges poorly on when and what to share about the dead. It also shows that he was afraid of the people he wrote about negatively.
As an African, Professor Indagasi has deliberately forgotten that death bestows a new status on a departed soul that demands respect. He also forgets that whatever is said about the dead, whether good or bad, is meant to console their family and friends. It’s never a dagger with which to settle scores with the deceased.
Why then would such unkind words come from a literary elder and a holder of one of the highest recognition in the academic world? This is a question that can only be answered by Professor Henry Indagasi, hopefully before he tears apart his next victim.
Two of the literary figures that Professor Indagasi respects and often mentions are William Shakespeare and Joseph Conrad. But millions never had the privilege of interacting with their works. As such, those whose literary world is dominated by the works of Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Chinua Achebe, Micere Mugo, Meja Mwangi, and many other African writers, need to be allowed to mourn their heroes in peace.
Professor Indagasi, allow us to mourn Ngugi wa Thiong’o in peace.
***Andrew Maina is a Kenyan writer and founder of Kendeka Prize for African Literature. He is the author of two novels and five children’s story books. His latest short story, ‘Baba Linda is Dead’, has been published in Kalahari Review. He is married and blessed with three children.
Email; andrewmaina2010@yahoo.com
