I remember that morning with Mĩcere Gĩthae Mũgo. It was in the corridors of the New Department of Literature at Nairobi University, which was born out of the abolition of the English Department. We lamented the fact that Jomo Kenyatta, the erstwhile hero of the Independence struggle, had surrounded himself with anglophiles and colonial loyalists like Charles Njonjo. Dedan Kĩmathi and the heroes and heroines of Kenya Land and Freedom were being taken off the calendar of the very independence they had sacrificed their lives. Mĩcere and I had the same thought. Write a play about Dedan Kĩmathi. But where and how to begin?

We drove to Karũnainĩ in Nyeri, Kĩmathi’s birthplace. We met men and women, some of whom had been Kĩmathi’s students. They pointed at a spot in the forest. That was where he was shot and wounded by an African traitor. In the course of our talks, I mentioned something about Kĩmathi’s death, thinking of his execution by the British in 1957. One of the women turned cold eyes at me. Dead? Then go and show us his grave.

That peasant woman gave us the theme of our play. To Kenyan people, Kĩmathi was still alive. Jomo Kenyatta and his cohorts of neo-colonials could not erase his memory from the grateful workers and peasants of our country. The Trial of Dedan Kĩmathi would depict a defiant Kĩmathi, refusing to plead guilty or not guilty, thus rejecting the legitimacy of the laws of the colonial system. I will not plead to a law in which we had no part in its making, Kĩmathi tells the colonial judge.

The guest of honor on the opening night of the play at the Kenya National Theater in 1976 was Mũkami Kĩmathi, who we brought to Nairobi from her home in Njabini. Mĩcere Mũgo played the character of the defiant woman, modelled on Mũkami. Patrick Shaw and his squad of police murderers sat on the terraces of the Norfolk hotel. The Kĩmathi hunter, Ian Henderson, portrayed in our play as Shaw Henderson, used to stop for a drink and get applause from the white settlers for a job well done in the Hunt for Dedan Kĩmathi. At the end of the play, the real-life Mũkami Kĩmathi stood up and screamed: “That was my Kĩmathi,” and she stayed long into the night telling stories of the time to university students. Later Mĩcere Mũgo would accompany the other actors to Festac’77 in Nigeria, revealing Dedan Kĩmathi to Africa. Kĩmathi and the Kenya Land and Freedom Army were the first to break the global tread and arrogance of white settler colonies in the Americas, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, declaring themselves independent. Kenya showed the way. Zimbabwe and South Africa would follow the example of Kenya.

Later I was called to the CID Headquarters in NairobI. They asked me: why were Mĩcere Mũgo and I interfering with European Theater at the Kenya National Theater? A year later, I would be hauled into Kamĩtĩ Maximum Security Prison, and Mĩcere Mũgo into police cells for torture. Dictator Moi would force us into exile.

Mĩcere never gave up her struggles for social justice. Wherever there was a people’s struggle, like the armed struggle in Zimbabwe, Mĩcere was there. The generals of Zimbabwe's struggle knew of her: she had organizied for clothes and money to be sent to Zimbabwean freedom fighters, thus following in the footsteps of the woman character she portrayed in The Trial of Dedan Kĩmathi. The play itself, The Trial of Dedan of Kĩmathi, was performed by ZANU guerrillas and the militants of the ANC. Wherever a people fought for human rights and social justice, even in exile in the USA, Mĩcere Mũgo was there, driven by her belief in Utu: I am because you are. She had a great sense of humour, and amidst her years of struggle with cancer, Mĩcere would still crack a joke.

There is another moment I recall. Uhuru Kenyatta invited me, Micere and Mũkami Kĩmathi as his personal guests at the opening of the refurbished Kenya National Theater. Imagine this: The son of Jomo Kenyatta had brought Mĩcere Mũgo and Mũkami Kĩmathi to Nairobi as his special guests. The embrace between Mĩere Mũgo and Mũkami Kĩmathi was touching to behold: perhaps both remembered the opening night of The Trial of Dedan Kĩmathi with Mĩcere Mũgo playing the character of the woman very much modelled on Mũkami Kĩmathi. Both have passed on the same year. Yes, the woman who had fought the British so that a woman like Mĩcere could be the first African woman to be admitted to the whites-only high schools in Kenya, yes, and who had fought so that Mĩcere would eventually become the first African woman PhD in Kenya, the first African woman Dean of the arts at any University in Kenya, yes Mũkami Kĩmathi and Mĩcere Mũgo passed on the same year. But their spirts will live on in all those who take up the fight for our collective Utu.

Daraja Press is deeply saddened by the loss of Shujaa Mĩcere Gĩthae Mũgo. We send condolences to Mumbi and family and friends.

Three poems in Gikuyu to Mĩcere Gĩthae Mũgo

by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o

English translations will be posted on the Daraja Press website in due course

Mwaki wa Jahanamu

Nĩ Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o

Kũrĩ Mĩcere,

Nĩ wega nĩ kũigua no wĩyũmĩrĩirie

O na waringwo ngoro atĩa nĩ marĩa

Mothe mookanĩire kũmbanĩra ngoro

Ta ma kwehererwo nĩ arĩa a goro ngoroinĩ yaku

Meyongereire marĩa ũtũire ũkuuĩte na mwĩrĩ waku

Na no ũthekaga na gwĩciria cia arĩa angĩ;

Irvine tũtikinyagĩrwo nĩ mwaki, kwoguo

O na tũgĩitaga rĩithori nĩ ũndũ wa arĩa maracinĩrwo mĩciĩ

Ithuĩ no gũtuĩra mata gĩthũri nĩ kũhĩtũkĩrwo nĩ mwaki

Na kũgeria gũthoma marĩa tũrathomithio nĩ mũmbĩre atĩ

Twariganĩrwo nĩ marĩa Wangarĩ aatũire atũririkanagia

Twaga kũmenyerera macigĩrĩria atĩ

Twanangage mĩtĩ hamwe na gũita gĩko njũũĩinĩ na

Gũtogagia rĩera na thumu wa ndogo cia betũrũ

Atĩ tũgakũngũĩra carbon monoxide handũ ha Oxygen

Nĩ twerehera mwaki ũrĩa werirwo wa Jahanamu.

Ikara wĩyũmĩrĩirie ũguo

Rathimĩkai mwĩ hamwe na Mũmbi

Mũnabii wa Maganjo

Rĩandĩke nĩ Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o

Ndirĩ mũrebeti nĩ kwĩga kana gũthĩgĩrĩria, tiga atĩ

Rĩmwe na rĩmwe nĩ njiguaga ndoingunywo ngoro nĩ ciugo

Cigetunga karwĩmbo kĩongo, tiga atĩ

Ndageria gũkaina, mũgambo ũcio, mageca,

Magatũma Njeeri wakwa acarĩkie karũbu

Cokia mũgambo ũcio thegi.

Ngageria o rĩngĩ kũ-ũrũnga

Ngahana ta mũrebi akĩina mbũri atarĩ,

Kana akĩgeria gũkinyũkia ehandĩte ceni ta Mũthigari

Atĩ ndakamenyeke nĩ muohe magũrũ nĩ njoohi

Agatũgũga mũtũgũgo no ti wa ndũgo

Mũkinyũkĩrie ũgakĩrĩria kwanĩrĩra ũrebi wake.

No nĩ harĩ ciugo itariganagĩra ta

Iria watũrutire Randani tũgĩthaka rĩa ciira wa Kĩmathi

Atĩ kĩeya kĩrĩa gitũ kĩa maganjo nĩ Kĩmathi warĩmĩire

Nĩ ngenaga nĩ kũmenya atĩ

O na wagenerwo nĩ mathĩna maigana atĩa

Ndũtigaga kũrĩmĩra maganjo maitũ Abirika.

Ndĩrerirwo nĩ kanyoni atĩ Mũrũ wa Ndirangũ

Nĩ arathiĩ kuonania cia ũrĩmĩri waku

Mũgomanoinĩ wa athomu a Abirika, Nairobi

Kũhuha coro cia ũrĩmĩri wa mwarĩ wa Gĩthae

Kũririkania Kenya mũnabii ũrĩa waingatirwo kwao

Atũire o ho aanĩrĩire cia ũnoru wa maganjo maitũ.

Ngũkiuga atĩa ũngĩ?

Kinyũkia o macio, mwarĩ wa Gĩthae,

Na nowe nyina wa Mũmbi rũũrĩrĩ.

Na nowe gĩtungati gĩa Kenya na Abirika.

Ũrĩmĩri waku nĩ ũkoimia maciaro

Na ithuĩ tũgethe magetha

Makũmbĩ maitũ maiyũire cia rũciũ rwitũ.

October 2019

Gũkũngũĩra Mĩcere

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o

Kũngũ kũngũ kũngũ maita maingĩ nĩ

Kũigĩrĩrwo thũmbĩ ya gĩtĩyo nĩ Yunibathĩtĩ ya Narobi.

Ngemi cia kuma na mũciĩ igambaga wega gũtũinĩ kwa ngoro

Wee! Kaba kugĩrwo Ngemi handũ ha kugĩrwo mbu.

Wĩ mũrathime mwarĩ wa Njeri na Gĩthae

Kũigĩrĩrwo thũmbĩ ũrorete mũthenya waku wa gũciarwo?

Mũthenya o ũrĩa Kenya njerũ yaciarirwo?

Kena mũthenya ũyũ

Kena mũthenya ũyũ

Kena mũthenya ũyũ,

Mĩcere

Waku wa gũciarwo.

12 December 2020

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