In Summary
- As we begin to debate who is a hero, we must also acknowledge our true history. A skewed history gives wrong heroes and wrong values.
At this year’s Mashujaa Day celebrations, President Uhuru Kenyatta cast as heroes those who resisted brutal colonial occupation and others who fought for Independence. He also mentioned Wangari Maathai and Professor Ali Mazrui as heroes. He conveniently forgot to say that the latter two did not just achieve international stature, they had also fought hard against the Kanu regime.
Uhuru’s narrative was a rehearsal of the official view of African history crafted by nationalism. According to this rendition, the pre-colonial era was a democratic paradise where various African communities lived harmoniously with each other, a state of affairs that was disrupted by an oppressive colonial occupation. After the defeat of colonialism, the story goes, Africa reclaimed its democratic traditions.
This idealistic retelling of African history is now official, documented in school history books and rehearsed during the marking of national days. The truth, however, is a lot more inconvenient for both our cultural nationalists and those who hold power, for the common denominator in all three historical eras — pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial — is brutal tyranny.
