What if Moi was a lone ranger and Kenyatta a tribal ranger? The bottom line is that Ngugi chose to focus less on Kenyatta and instead over-focused on Moi. Reading Detained, one can be excused for assuming it is Moi who detained Ngugi.
He has for years peddled the rumor that it is Moi who detained him because he allegedly "signed" the detention order. Even if that were true and it isn't (the order was signed by Home Affairs Permanent Secretary Leonard Kabinge from Kiambu), what power did a Vice President under Kenyatta have to detain anybody?
Moi was not a loner. Moi established a system where the likes of Shariff Nassir, Kariuki Chotara, Kuria Kanyingi, JJ Kamotho, Jirani Musa, Musa Mudavadi and Oloo Aringo played a key regional role. Where Kenyatta let the party sleep, Moi used it Communist style. He needed to mobilize his old KADU links and KANU was a powerful tool. Thus all the politicians who were with him in KADU or their sons rose to positions of power and influence under his government.
Again I see no basis for Ngugi to ignore Kenyatta and give him a pass while concentrating his guns on Moi.
It was also alleged that Kenyatta is dead therefore there is no need to discuss him and Ngugi used that reasoning. Then I wonder why he spends so much energy in Detained and Petals of Blood discussing white settlers who had long died by the time he was writing about them!
please read my post carefully. Moi is an extension of Kenyattaism, call it Kenyattaist-Moism, the modus operandi shifted. Kenyatta used a cabal of close friends, relatives and associates, Moi was a lone ranger and the cabals he surrounded himself with were robots that he used and discarded. because of this Moi had to be tackled as an individual who embodied the exploitation of the poor and muffled voices of dissent.
1. I do not agree with your description of the subtle differences between Kenyatta / Kenyattaism and Moi / Moism. Let's say you need to polish your knowledge of the workings of both regimes.
2. The justification for targeting Moi is thin at best and at worst spurious.
1. they are not subtle but glaring. kenyatta killed KANU so that he could concentrate his rule within stae house. he maintained a close group of friends through out his 15 years; Njonjo, Njoroge Mungai, Koinange, Njenga Karume etc. now contrast with Moi, apart from Biwott the rest were discarded at a whim meaning they were not crucial cogs in the machinery, KANU was revived and made strong. when you think of Kenyatta you think of him and his bevy of Kiambu mafia; when you think of Moi you think of Moi. glaring difference. who needs to polish his knowledge now?
2.see 1. above
Topic: Nobel Prize for Literature Goes to... Patrick Modiano (France) (Read 2631 times)