#politics kenya

[phydoro]

KENYA AT A POLITICAL CROSSROADS: NAVIGATING TRIBALISM, GENDER IMBALANCE, AND THE BOLD VOICE OF GEN Z

Kenya stands at a pivotal juncture in its political evolution, as a profound generational shift challenge entrenched power structures, unmasking the deep-seated issues of tribalism, gender inequality, and political hypocrisy. At the core of this transformation lies a younger, reform-driven cohort determined to hold the ruling elite accountable, demand transparency, and dismantle the barriers that have long hindered equitable progress. The future of Kenyan politics hinges on this emerging generation, which brings both a renewed sense of urgency and a commitment to redefining the nation's political norms. This moment, marked by widespread public dissatisfaction and unprecedented activism, signals a watershed in the country’s democratic journey.

Political Hypocrisy and Public Dissatisfaction

The Kenyan political landscape has long been marred by a palpable disconnect between political promises and the lived realities of ordinary citizens. This gulf has been most evident in the cynical disregard for public welfare by the political establishment. The experience of leaders like Morara Kebaso, who was subjected to violence while advocating for accountability and the impeachment of rogue officials, underscores the perils faced by those seeking to challenge the status quo. These incidents illuminate the extent of political repression and the existential challenges of confronting an entrenched elite. For Generation Z, the widespread political hypocrisy has become intolerable. Their frustrations are driven by the growing realization that the political system is rigged in favor of a powerful few. The call for transparency and reform has never been more urgent, as young Kenyans demand an end to the perennial cycle of deceit and broken promises.

Gen Z’s Entry into Politics and the Generational Shift

A seismic shift is underway in Kenya’s political ecosystem, driven by the rising engagement of Generation Z in the political sphere. This cohort, once perceived as apolitical or disengaged, has proven to be an invaluable force for change. Individuals like Kasmuel McOure, an artist turned activist, embody the new wave of political leadership that prioritizes integrity, social justice, and accountability. McOure’s announcement to run for office in 2027 signals a burgeoning political ambition within the youth demographic, one grounded in a vision of a more inclusive, transparent, and accountable government. Recent protests against the Finance Bill of 2024, organized through viral social media campaigns such as #OccupyParliament and #RejectFinanceBill2024, further illustrate Gen Z’s capacity to galvanize large-scale political movements, utilizing the digital realm to bypass traditional media and rally citizens from all corners of the country.

 Digital Activism and Direct Engagement

In an era defined by digital connectivity, Generation Z has leveraged social media as a powerful tool for civic engagement. The ability to organize protests, share grievances, and expose political wrongdoing has empowered youth to bypass the gatekeepers of traditional media and engage directly with both government officials and the public. Campaigns like Tuwasalimie, which published the contact details of public officials to facilitate direct citizen advocacy, represent a radical departure from previous forms of political engagement. This approach reflects a preference for grassroots activism, wherein digital platforms serve not only as organizing tools but as mechanisms for holding the state to account. The protests against the Finance Bill were organized largely through online channels, demonstrating how virtual spaces can transcend geographical divides, amplify marginalized voices, and challenge the political hegemony of those in power.

Tribalism’s Legacy and the Shift Toward Unity

Kenya’s political history has been inextricably linked to ethnic affiliations, with tribalism often dictating the nature of political alliances and national policy. The dominance of the Kalenjin and Kikuyu ethnic groups, embodied in figures such as President William Ruto (Kalenjin) and Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua (Kikuyu), has historically shaped the country’s political direction. These power dynamics have contributed to systemic exclusion, with smaller communities finding themselves marginalized within the national discourse. However, the recent youth-led protests signal a dramatic shift away from tribal allegiances towards a more unified, issue-based approach to politics. The growing convergence of diverse ethnic groups around common economic grievances—rather than ethnic identity—marks a transformative moment in Kenyan political culture. Generation Z’s emphasis on shared struggle over tribal loyalty signals a nascent, more inclusive political identity that could redefine the national fabric.

 Gender Imbalance and the Struggle for Women’s Representation

While Kenya has made significant strides in addressing gender inequality, the political sphere remains a male-dominated arena, with women continuing to face significant barriers to full participation. The proposed gender-balanced ticket by President Ruto, while an admirable step forward, has yet to translate into tangible change in terms of female leadership representation. The legal mandate of the two-thirds gender rule, enshrined in the Constitution, remains largely unenforced, leaving Kenya's political institutions skewed toward male leadership. This persistent imbalance exacerbates the underrepresentation of women’s perspectives in governance and impedes the advancement of policies that could address the unique challenges faced by women and marginalized communities. The call for structural reforms to guarantee equal representation in political decision-making processes has gained increasing traction, with a growing chorus of activists advocating for genuine gender parity in leadership.

Institutional Corruption and the Push for Transparency

Corruption within Kenyan institutions remains a formidable obstacle to progress, eroding public trust and exacerbating socioeconomic disparities. The pervasive culture of impunity that has characterized Kenya's political establishment for decades has entrenched a system where public resources are often siphoned off by the political elite. Generation Z’s demand for accountability and transparency has found expression in their vocal opposition to corruption, with activists calling for a paradigm shift in governance. The protests against the Finance Bill, which focused on issues of financial mismanagement and the exploitation of public resources, highlight the growing appetite for reform among young Kenyans. This generational shift places transparency at the forefront of political discourse, signaling a move away from the patronage politics that have long defined Kenya’s governance.

Human Rights, Police Brutality, and Civic Liberties

In recent years, the issue of police brutality has emerged as a focal point for civil rights activists, particularly among Kenya's youth. The excessive use of force during protests, as well as the targeting of marginalized communities by law enforcement, has sparked widespread outrage. Campaigns like #EndPoliceBrutalityKE have gained momentum, with activists calling for comprehensive reforms to Kenya’s police service and a reimagining of law enforcement practices. The viral dissemination of videos documenting police violence has helped amplify the voices of victims and galvanized support for systemic reform. This demand for accountability is not merely about addressing police abuse but is part of a broader push for the protection of civil liberties and the establishment of a more just and equitable society.

As Kenya navigates its current political crossroads, the forces of change, driven by the demands of Generation Z, are shaping a new vision for the country’s future. The legacy of tribalism, gender inequality, and political hypocrisy continues to haunt the political landscape, but the vitality and determination of Kenya's youth offer a promising path forward. Their calls for transparency, accountability, and inclusivity represent a powerful repudiation of the status quo, offering hope for a more equitable and just society. In this decisive moment, Kenya’s political trajectory hangs in the balance, as the nation contemplates whether it will embrace reform or remain mired in the divisions and injustices of the past.

[crossdreamers]

Trump Administration Halts Refugee Program, Leaving LGBTQ Refugees in Limbo

The U.S. State Department has abruptly canceled travel plans for thousands of refugees already approved to resettle in the United States. Persecuted LGBTQ refugees in East Africa are left in Limbo.

This decision follows an executive order signed by former President Donald Trump, suspending the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), which has long served as a lifeline for persecuted individuals worldwide, including LGBTQ people fleeing violence and discrimination.

Refugees in camps across South Sudan and elsewhere, who had hoped to begin new lives in the U.S., now face an uncertain future. Some members of this vulnerable population had already reached the U.S., but many others remain stranded, their dreams of safety dashed by the new policy.

Refugee status cancelled over night

The New York Times reported that more than 10,000 refugees were in the final stages of resettlement when their flights were canceled.

The Trump administration's executive order has effectively frozen the multi-agency process of admitting refugees, pending a review to determine whether resettlement aligns with national interests.

The review period is set for 90 days, but advocates fear the program may never resume, given Trump’s track record of anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies.

The halt also impacts the Welcome Corps, a private sponsorship program launched in 2023 to allow Americans to assist refugees directly. Welcome.US, an organization dedicated to mobilizing support for refugees, confirmed that the suspension will take effect on January 27, except in rare, case-by-case exceptions.

Adding to the challenges, Trump has also terminated the CBP One app, which previously helped streamline legal migration and reduce unauthorized border crossings. This leaves refugees with even fewer avenues to seek safety in the U.S.

Protests from refugee organizations

The International Rescue Committee (IRC), a global humanitarian aid, relief, and development nongovernmental organization, urges the Trump administration to reverse course, maintain the resettlement program and work with its partners around the world to maintain global resettlement slots:

"If the program is not restored, political dissidents, religious minorities, and the most vulnerable victims of war and disaster will pay the price, and so will the United States."

LGBTQ refugees in East Africa in jeopardy

The situation in refugee camps in Kenya and South Sudan can serve as an example of the severe negative consequences facing LGBTQ refugees.

Ugandan LGBTQ refugees are particularly vulnerable, facing severe discrimination not only in their home countries but also in refugee camps in Kenya and South Sudan.

We have reports of Ugandan LGBTQ refugees who left the UNHCR Kakuma camp in Kenya, because of reports of refugees getting help in one of the camps in South Sudan. Indeed, some of them had already been repatriated to the US, but many are left behind now that the US has closed its borders. Many are now exploring options to seek refuge in Canada, but their immediate prospects remain grim.

For now, these individuals are caught in a state of limbo, awaiting clarity on their futures.

As the Trump administration's policy shift draws widespread criticism, advocacy groups are exploring legal challenges to overturn the suspension and restore hope to those seeking safety.

Source: LGBTQ Refugees in East Africa

See also: The Life of an Ugandan LGBTQ Refugee in South Sudan

Vetted crowdfunding campaigns for refugees in Kenya and South Sudan:

Nakafeero

Elvis

Calvin Phil

Illustration: vertukha

[afrotumble]

"If murdering and abducting protesters is democracy, then I don't want it"

~ Ibrahim Traore (President of Burkina Faso)

Your thoughts on this

[nando161mando]

Kenyans returning Bibles in crates to the British colonial office in an East German cartoon from 1953, with the caption, "Here, we are giving you your Bibles back, now give us our land back."

[dailyanarchistposts]

Everyone has their own definition of anarchism. One I find generally useful is the first three paragraphs of the article Peter Kropotkin was asked to write for the 11th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica in 1905. This is the collection of volumes which (however repugnant we now find its sales techniques) is the place we look for a working definition of most things.

Kropotkin's first paragraph said that:

ANARCHISM (from the Greek, contrary to authority), is the name given to a principle or theory of life and conduct under which society is conceived without government — harmony in such a society being obtained, not by submission to law, or by obedience to any authority, but by free agreements concluded between the various groups, territorial and professional, freely constituted for the sake of production and consumption, as also for the satisfaction of the infinite variety of needs and aspirations of a civilised being.

That's his first paragraph, and of course he has the usual problem of anyone writing an encyclopaedia definition, he has to be concise, but at the same time, to bring everything in. So his second paragraph goes:

In a society developed on these lines, the voluntary associations which already now begin to cover all the fields of human activity would take a still greater extension so as to substitute themselves for the State in all its functions. They would represent an interwoven network, composed of an infinite variety of groups and federations of all sizes and degrees, local, regional, national and international — temporary or more or less permanent — for all possible purposes: production, consumption and exchange, communications, sanitary arrangements, education, mutual protection, defence of the territory, and so on; and, on the other side, for the satisfaction of an ever-increasing number of scientific, artistic, literary and sociable needs."

Kropotkin was a scientist, a physical geographer in origin, and his third paragraph drew an analogy from physics and from biology, and you might even claim from structural mechanics and music. For he claimed that:

Moreover, such a society would represent nothing immutable. On the contrary — as is seen in organic life at large — harmony would (it is contended) result from an ever-changing adjustment and readjustment of equilibrium between the multitudes of forces and influences, and this adjustment would be the easier to obtain as none of the forces would enjoy a special protection from the State.

These opening remarks express the kernel of his argument for society as opposed to the State, and for the community as opposed to the government.

[allthegeopolitics]

The number of children who were burned to death in a school dormitory in central Kenya has risen to 21, the government spokesperson said Saturday.

Officials began removing the bodies of the children as they tried to account for dozens of boys who were still missing.

Journalists were moved to wait outside the Hillside Endarasha Primary School compound as a team that included the government pathologist and morticians from the Nyeri provincial hospital set up tables outside the dormitory on Saturday.

The Thursday night fire razed down a dormitory that was housing 156 boys aged between 10 and 14. More than 100 boys have been accounted for and the government is urging parents and people living near the privately-owned school to help account for all the boys. [...]

Continue Reading.

[victusinveritas]

[bem-te-vi-comunista]

There was an attempt of assassination of the General Secretary of the Communist Party Marxist - Kenya.

[compacflt]

What does Ice (or Mav) think about the Obama gay rumors? Will they be tuning in to hear the story of the man who allegedly fucked Obama? Are they bi Obama truthers? Is Rooster? Is Hangman? Any other Icebama interactions you're hiding from us? His cameo cracked me up and I need to know more...

the obama gay rumors

first im hearing about this

[ophilosoraptoro]

PROOF Obama's Birth Certificate is Fake

[crossdreamers]

LGBTQ-refugees in Kenya are facing a tough dilemma

Photo: Nakafeero Swabulah, a young lesbian LGBTQ-leader in the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya

Ugandan LGBTQ refugees in Kenya's Kakuma camp face a difficult choice between staying there with little hope for resettlement or moving to South Sudan's Gorom camp, which offers better prospects for relocation to LGBTQ-friendly countries.

The refugees fled severe and violent persecution in Uganda but continue to face discrimination and violence in the camps.

While the UN aims to help, they are constrained by the need to maintain good relations with local governments.

The government of Kenya is not accepting persecution for being LGBTQ a valid reason for refugee status. The local LGBTQ movement has won some victories, but also many tragic losses.

Some refugees have moved from Kakuma to Gorom, where the US and Canadian governments have granted resettlement status to several Ugandan refugees. However, the actual relocation process is complex and uncertain.

Photo: Ugandan LGBTQ-refugee from Gorom on his way to Canada

Nakafeero, an LGBTQ refugee leader, is considering moving her group from Kakuma to Gorom. She is currently visiting Gorom to assess conditions and gather information.

She says that the camp provides basic housing and services, but resources are limited and costs are higher than in Kenya.

The situation remains fluid, with refugees spread between both camps.

Unfortunately a large number of African countries persecute LGBTQ people. The argument is that being gay or trans is against local tradition and that queer identities are part of Western colonialism. The opposite is true. It was for the most part Western colonial powers that introduced the kind of bigotry we see today, and it is Western right wing religious fundamentalists that feed the flames of hate now.

Photo: UN refugee tents in the Gorom camp in South Sudan.

More here: Where to find hope of escape: In Kenya or South Sudan?

See also:

A lesbian refugee from Uganda is doing her best to assist LGBT people living in a refugee camp in Kenya. You can help her.

Report from a young Ugandan lesbian refugee in Kenya.

LGBTQ Kakuma refugees decide to move to South Sudan camp in hope of repatriation

Petition demands Kenyan government stop discriminating against queer asylum seekers

Gay and targeted in Uganda: Inside the extreme crackdown on LGBTQ rights

Uganda’s 2023 anti-homosexuality act is already costing the country.

Donations to LGBTQ-refugees in Kakuma in Kenya.

Donations to LGBTQ-refugees in Gorom in South Sudan

[afrotumble]

[leftistfeminista]

THE DEMONSTRATIONS THAT LASTED ELEVEN MONTHS and THE DAY MOTHERS STRIPPED NAKED.

On March 3rd 1992, mothers of the political prisoners stripped naked at Uhuru park to demand for the release of their sons caught in Moi's torture chambers.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the political atmosphere in Kenya was characterized by brutal government repression and terror, under the de-facto single-party rule of President Daniel Arap Moi. 

Any form of political dissension was swiftly met with government interrogation, detention, and torture, using the justification of the Public Order Act, the Chiefs Authority Act and the Sedition Law. 

This resulted to the arrest, killing and exiling of many students, politicians, lawyers and journalists. Those arrested were tortured and thrown in prisons, some came back alive while others died in the torture chambers and prisons. 

On Feb 28th, 1992, Mothers of Political Prisoners, aged between 60-80 years presented a Petition with a list of 52 political prisoners who had been imprisoned for perceived anti-government statements, ideas, and actions, to the then Attorney General, Amos Wako. 

The mothers then proceeded to a now famous corner at the Uhuru Park in Nairobi for an undefined hunger strike. The mothers were supported & led by the late Nobel Laurent, Prof. Wangari Maathai who joined them in their protest, which was ignored by the mainstream media, KBC & KTN. 

The mothers set up camp in the Uhuru (Freedom) Park that is located across the infamous “Nyayo House Torture Chambers” and not far off is the Parliament Building. There, they staged a hunger strike and waited for the release of their sons. 

The striking mothers soon garnered much support for their cause. Several sympathizers set up a tent under which the mothers could sleep, and many frustrated Kenyans came forward and openly recounted their stories of torture. 

These supporters joined in on the mothers’ singing of traditional Kenyan songs, which included such lyrics as, “Go and take the child back…” The mothers set up banners and handed out flyers to curious Kenyans as they continued their vigil. 

On March 3rd, the Moi government decided to forcibly disperse the demonstrators. Government police forces beat protesters with batons, fired gunshots into the air, and hurled tear-gas into the tent where protesters were gathered. 

Wangari Maathai who was criticized by President Daniel Arap Moi, being called a “madwoman” & “a threat to the order & security of the country”, was was beaten into the coma. This made it to the newspaper headlines, causing uproar across the nation and criticism internationally. 

To ward off the police, two of the protesting mothers stripped their clothing and dared the police to kill them. They shouted “What kind of government is this that beats women! Kill us! Kill us now! We shall die with our children!” 

Perhaps the mothers were inspired by the 1922 bravery actions of women led by Mary Muthoni Nyanjiru, who stormed a police station in Nairobi to demand the release of Harry Thuku. Men who had come along started retreating upon coming face to face with armed colonial police. 

In disappointment, Nyanjiru stripped to shame the fleeing men, and asked them to give women their trousers since they were brave. The charged crowd overrun the police station, and Mary Nyanjiru was shot dead on that day. Her brave actions aroused people into active resistance. 

Back to 1992, the police officers on seeing the nakedness of mothers in their 60s, responded by turning away and leaving the scene. According to Maathai, the tactic of disrobing was particularly effective in stopping the police because.... 

... “In the African tradition,people must respect women who are close to their mother’s age, & must treat them as their mothers. If men beat mothers,it is like sons violating their mothers, & the mothers respond by cursing them & they cursed them by showing them their nakedness.” 

The news of the violent beatings of the mothers sparked riots all over Nairobi. Transportation workers boycotted their work in protest of the govt beating the mothers, & large crowds of stone-throwing demonstrators had to be dispersed by tear gas-firing riot police. 

[dailyanarchistposts]

Chimurenga Culture

Malawi

November 9: At Nairobi airport the insolent daughter of someone’s brother behind the counter where I had to pay my airport tax in hard currency refused to accept Scottish notes. I had to trek to another terminal and queue up behind eight huge young Finns — not a basketball team, just ‘students’, they told me to change a travellers’ cheque into dollars. However weak the US economy may be, dollars remain the most negotiable currency everywhere. I was fretting that I might be late for my flight. Needlessly it took off three hours late. Air Kenya are in all kinds of financial trouble ...

After flying quite low over the desiccated, unpopulous terrain of Tanzania, Lake Malawi seemed vast, oceanic. I was rushed through checkout at Lilongwe and safely made my connection to Blantyre, along with numerous dark-suited, serious business-and-professional Africans. A quiet lot. How quiet Malawi at once seems after Nairobi, which teems with hustlers, boozers and boasters.

Professor Steve Chimombo at once presented himself at Blantyre Airport — semi-familiar from a book cover with a grizzled, curly mop of hair, a Mephistophelean beard and a huge grin. Steve is the best known poet writing in Malawi itself — two generations behind the exiled Rubadiri; one behind Mnthali, now self-exiled after a spell in detention; a contemporary of Chipasula and Mphande, both teaching in the States, and of Jack Mapanje After three and a half years in detention, without trial, it seems for uttering something subversive, Jack was released in May this year. He’s now at the University of York — with his wife and children (which is important — no hostages).

As Steve and I head for his car, a very familiar figure steps up to shake hands: Ken Lipenga. When I taught here in ‘78, Ken and I went night after night to the OK Night Club, one of Zomba’s three bars, where a mixed crowd of soldiers, policemen, whores and informers danced to music from a portable gramophone — ‘Rivers of Babylon’ over and over again. We talked outside over lagers in little bottles, the Carlsberg Greens made world-famous by one of Jack’s best poems.

Ken has now left academic life. He is editor in chief of the Blantyre Times, an officially-controlled ‘news’paper which actually exists to suppress ‘news’: everyone listens to BBC World Service for that. I’m glad Ken’s hanging around here to meet some VIP. He’s just back from Edinburgh where Banda has been parading his Eldership of the Church of Scotland and his entourage have no doubt ransacked Princes Street with all the hard currency this very poor country can lay hands on, but cannot spare.

Steve takes me to Mount Soche Hotel for refreshment. It’s plush — and quiet. Medieval theologians might have understood the dispute which Steve commences with a friend about whether Carlsberg ‘Green’ tastes different in brown bottles (though still with Green labels). Nevertheless, he at once impresses me. After the twitchy torpor of Nairobi’s moribund ‘literary scene’, here, of all places, I find things happening, despite a censorship so feared that Malawi, according to a recent report in INDEX, is a land of ‘zombies’. Anthony Nazombe (no zombie) managed to publish an anthology of Malawian verse quite recently. Steve himself has published a novel, The Basket Girl, and sold out a run of 1,000 copies by hawking it from office to office, shop to shop. And there’s this rather glossy magazine for writers which he’s started — look!

Steve’s best known for a sequence of poems about the local god Napolo. When my plane touched down at Blantyre airport, Napolo at once signified his rage with a spectacular blast of lightning. As we drive on the almost empty fifty mile road to Zomba, the night is stormy. I know Government Hostel of old: here, too, Mapanje and I swapped many a Carlsberg. It’s rather handsome, built for colonial officials, with twin corrugated-iron turrets and spick and span blue details on its curving white façade. At once, an exuberant figure rushes from the bar: Nazombe, whom I last saw years ago when he was a student at Sheffield, now Dean of Arts at Chancellor College, University of Malawi. Steve leaves me in Nazombe’s hands. He talks about poetry and criticism with easy professionalism. I read him ‘Hallaig’ and send him on his way with my last copy of Sorley’s poems. I fear for its safety as I watch from my room Nazombe, book in hand, huge umbrella in the other, pick his way homewards across the drenched lawn in torrential rain.

November 10: Steve picks me up back of four. He’s a local man, born under Zomba Mountain, and his interest in Napolo needs no explanation. He drives me out into the countryside. Rain lashes, lightning flashes, clouds roll rapidly over the steep ridges. It’s like the West Highlands, but we lack Napolo in Scotland to provide weather of such exhilarating, OTT, violence. A party at the Chimombos. It’s a remarkable party which is clearly enjoyed by the African guests, Ben Malunga from University admin. (the country’s leading poet in Chichewa) and Gregory, a young lecturer in English. Moira’s Malawian cuisine is delicious. Steve, having heard that when I was here in ‘78 I had made a point of never going to the white-dominated Zomba Club, had apologised in advance for the fact that there would be Scots at his party. "Steve", I’d said, "there are three kinds of people: Black people, white people and Scots".

And what should I meet but a German Scot, a new sub-species. Manfred Malzahn who teaches English (forsooth) at Chancellor was in Edinburgh for several years and is an expert on Scottish literature. He looks like a Scottish intellectual (rather, in fact, like a cross between Alasdair Gray and Douglas Dunn). He sounds echt Lothian. He knows the nuances of football culture. His wife, a beautiful German opera singer, heavily pregnant, has only to smile while he and I gossip shamelessly. The other couple, Pat from Edinburgh, George from Kircudbright, agree with me that Manfred’s quite uncanny. They’ve taught in various parts of Africa, with fourteen years back in Edinburgh in between. George has retired now and devotes himself to woodwork.

November 11-13: At breakfast, a corpulent white man swims into view — Father Pat O’Malley. Pat’s a devotee of Yeats and a connoisseur of Irish Gaelic verse. (Nazombe’s already shown him Sorley’s book, so that was spared by the rain.) Pat taught English at Chancellor for many years, now works for a Catholic development agency. We have a good crack. He puts me right. I say: "I’m enjoying this too much, being back". He nods and gives me terrible facts. Malawi has the highest infant mortality rate in this bitterly poor region which includes Tanzania and Mozambique. Barely half of its children enter primary school: then those who do start dropping out because their parents can’t meet the fees ...

I stopped writing a diary when I reached this conversation. My stay remained specially pleasant. Chancellor’s comely brick quadrangles under the spectacular backdrop of Zomba Mountain were always attractive. Now the Senior Common Room has been expanded so that one can lounge, rather privately, in a kind of huge bow window, looking out on sun, flowers, birdlife, weather. Here I talked to many academics and met the students who now run the legendary Writers Workshop. This goes back two decades. In a situation where political clubs were impossible, student newspapers worthless if possible, the Workshop attracted scores of people to weekly meetings where stories and, still more, poems were circulated, read aloud and discussed. The half dozen students I met were very reserved at first, rather less so after their teachers, Chimombo and Nazombe, had left us. (Gregarious Manfred confirmed to me that Malawian students are hard to get to know.) The workshop, I learnt, still gets 80 to 100 participants to some meetings. I asked, did they consider pieces in Chichewa and Yao? Sometimes, yes.

This is important. I talked to Ben Malunga for an hour in his office in admin: a man slow and formal in English speech but not at all without humour. He took up writing in Chichewa as a student when he found that a trial attempt went down well. Though, as the language of Banda’s own people, its status as official language might seem provocative, my enquiries always established that people from other parts don’t mind using it. Ben’s book of 23 poems, published by Christian Literature Association in Malawi, CLAIM, has, he drily observes, nothing Christian in it. It came out in January and by October had sold 700 copies. As I told him, that would be a triumph for a slim first volume published in London, let alone in Edinburgh. The last book of poems in Chichewa was published in 1981. Ben’s is only the third by an individual author, and the others go back decades. I’m told Ben reads aloud very well, takes his book to local arts festivals. Radio here is bilingual and very popular — while I speak to him someone rings Ben to congratulate him on a poem he’s just heard over the airwaves.

Malawian poetry in English, taking the country’s small population and tiny readership into account, is one of Africa’s cultural glories. Four out of the twenty two poets in Maja-Pearce’s Heinemann Book of African Verse in English are Malawian. This isn’t a proportion which many good judges would challenge and some, like me, would say there should be five or six. The standard is so high, I think, for two reasons. One is the strength and dedication of the English Department at Zomba, which has long encouraged in the Writer’s Workshop good craftsmanship and a respect for the language’s poetic tradition, without imposing Parnassian or Oxbridge conventions. The other is censorship. That diverted very talented people who might have been journalists or novelists into poetry and ensured that their work would necessarily be subtle. To say anything important at all, it had to be thoughtful, riddling, witty. But Malawi will be still more glorious if Malunga’s success inspires complementary work in Chichewa. Ole Sunkuli, the young Maasai who interviewed me in Nairobi, jolted me to recognise that in the Great Days there twenty years ago, the issue of African languages was generally evaded by the impassioned controversialists who asserted the value of African culture against European conventions. Swahili, the lingua franca of Kenya, and an official language, has not been a literary medium recently — partly, I suspect, because there is in fact a rather ancient tradition of richly wrought poetry in the coastal area where Swahili is a mother tongue. Only the white woman, Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye, has dared to imitate those difficult forms — and she’s done so in English. Here in Malawi, the popularity of Chichewa offers the hope of a body of poetry written from a present day perspective in the international mainstream — and in an African language.

Not hope, but fact, is the success of theatre in Malawi. The theatre arts department at Chancellor is headed by the energetic Chris Kamlongera, a Leeds graduate with an international reputation. The University’s Travelling Theatre has long taken productions out to the rural districts. Recently, its significance has been diminished as other groups have teemed into existence. One of Kamlongera’s colleagues, reacts coolly when I express astonishment: "What! Popular theatre? With this censorship?" The plays he says (they’re in Chichewa, of course) are uncontroversial, anecdotal items about — for instance —marital relations. Verb sap. Theatre, as they knew in Ceausescu’s Romania, brings people together into an audience reacting to what is conveyed by gesture and staging as well as by words — and these latter may be improvised. Marital problems? Like those between Husband Banda and his Wife Malawi, maybe ... when theatre flows, spring torrents threaten the ice.

Malawi’s a country like no other. The regime isn’t militaristic, though the army might yet become the key actor when the crisis of succession to Banda arrives. Malawi isn’t, so far as one sees and hears, corrupt: a charming bank cashier went out of his way to work out for me that the rival establishment down the road would charge me less to transact a travellers’ cheque. The tyranny, I’m sorry to say, is quasi-Presbyterian. Father O’Malley introduced me to a useful concept. The churches here haven’t ‘sold out’. They’ve ‘bought into’ the Banda regime. What they’ve bought is not just the puritanism which prohibits miniskirts but something covered by the word umelu — roughly, ‘respect’. They give ‘respect’ to the authorities who ensure that in return ‘respect’ is given to them.

In Kenya, male chauvinism is rampant, but I’ve never seen anything like the phenomenon which I encountered in Zomba this time, when I accepted with great delight an invitation to dine with two black Anglican pastors in their rectory. The young Rev. Evans picked me up on his motorbike: as I sat behind him clutching a strap while he chugged and bumped over dirt tracks, I applied techniques of mental dissociation which never fail me at the dentists. When we arrived at his house a young woman was standing outside to receive us. As I lurched off the bike with a bag of gifts in my hand, she suddenly knelt before me. Instinctively, I fell on my knees likewise and passed her the bag. Evans, I finally gathered, was not clear that these were gifts, so my wine wasn’t served with his excellent chambo (like mackerel, but subtler, a fish from Lake Malawi). The young woman proved to be his servant. Every time she entered with a dish she knelt to present it. Is this another aspect of umelu? Even his wife would have knelt. Malawi has no well-known woman writer.

But the spate of male talent is diminishing. My last conversation on campus was with a very bright young lecturer in law, Garton Kamchedzera. The censors astounded everyone here when they passed a play he’d had accepted by the BBC for performance on its African Service. A £600 fee. In the land of the puny Kwacha, that’s big money. There’s been a little crisis going on. One tambala coins have been in short supply. Even expatriates seem really concerned. These coppers, worth about one-fifth of 1p, are, it seems, absolutely necessary for transactions in the local market ... This is not as odd as the fact that a popular brand of cigarettes is called LIFE.

My valedictory drink with friends in the Hostel bar was rather marred by a barrage of insects — not flying ants, but as large, built like dragonflies, flopping on to one’s collar, whizzing up one’s sleeve, strafing one’s beer. African friends are unperturbed. They’re harmless. I tell my favourite story from ‘78 about a spider, as large as my hands, I once met in my bedroom in up country Malawi. (I squashed it with a box of papers: woke up next morning to find that only its legs remained: the othercreatures in my room had devoured it.) Kamlongera caps this with an even nastier tale about a scorpion he thought he’d killed in his bedroom somewhere. Next morning, it had removed itself. Going in search of it, he met a snake on the sill ... (I’ve never seen a live snake wild in Africa).

[mightyflamethrower]