Michela Wrong

In the shadow of Mau Mau

When the Kenyan human rights campaigner, Maina Kiai, recently addressed the House of Commons, his list of policy recommendations probably surprised many MPs.

When the Kenyan human rights campaigner, Maina Kiai, recently addressed the House of Commons, his list of policy recommendations probably surprised many MPs. Be tough on Kenya’s fractious government, he urged. Crack down on British companies which bribe African politicians. And it was well past time, he added, that Britain made a formal apology for Mau Mau.

A chasm yawns between the soft-focus memories of a former colonial master and the less happy recollections of the colonised. Never more so than with Mau Mau, the 1950s uprising against white rule which traumatised the Kikuyu community, the country’s biggest tribe, eventually paving the way for independence. Anyone puzzled by the chorus of contemptuous snorts that sounded when Gordon Brown gave a misjudged speech calling for a celebration of the British empire should read this book.

At 72, Ngugi Wa Thiong’o has reached the age for memoirs, and Dreams in a Time of War is a far more substantial affair than the slim volume recently published by Nigeria’s Chinua Achebe, the continent’s other literary colossus. Whereas Achebe contented himself with a collection of old speeches, Ngugi has returned to his roots to produce something delicate, fresh and scrupulously honest.

He recalls a boyhood spent in a typical Kikuyu compound outside a burgeoning Nairobi: a polygamous father a little too fond of drink, four wives, 24 kids and a bevy of sheep and goats. Most authors see themselves as outsiders, and Ngugi’s life is shaped by a parental fight which sends his mother running back to the in-laws and permanently exiles Ngugi from siblings and former home.

The pain of losing his father’s blessing is soon dwarfed, however, by greater traumas. Kenya in the 1940s is in a state of ferment. Africans who fought in the second world war have returned with higher expectations than the British are ready to meet, demanding land, education and political power.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in