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{
    "id": 1569136,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1569136/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 91,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kikuyu, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "the ground. Probably, this is what provoked him to, later in life, around 1967 to 1970, drop the name James Ngugi and adopt his name as we know it today – Ngugi wa Thiong'o. We pay tribute to this great man, a writer who not only taught literature and English language in many universities in Africa, beginning with his alma mater, Makerere University and the University of Nairobi back at home before he was imprisoned. He also taught at great universities like Yale University in the United States of America and Northwestern University, where he was a guest lecturer. He therefore contributed immensely not just to the growth of literature but also to the growth of African languages. I heard you say that you have read all his novels except the ones he wrote in Gikuyu, like Ngaahika ndeenda, meaning ‘I will marry when I want’; and Caitaani Mūtharaba-Inī, which means devil on the cross, which was later translated into English. You may have had the opportunity to read these novels, Hon. Speaker. Ngugi wa Thiong'o dropped his English name, James, and adopted his Kikuyu name, Ngugi wa Thiong'o. He also began to write in the Kikuyu language not because he was a tribalist but because he was such a nationalist. When he was sent to detention for a year in the 1970s by the past regime, he was imprisoned with many other political prisoners who were not necessarily of Kikuyu descent. He lived on to fight for justice and equality life in Kenya, irrespective of where he came from. He not only taught students from across the world from different backgrounds, but his associations in the literary world also speak volumes about the man that Ngugi wa Thiong'o was. He valued his ancestry and background as a Kikuyu from Limuru but he never allowed that to be anything to be used to lord it over others or even believe that there was a community that was greater than the other. He used African languages thus motivating and encouraged many other African writers to write in their mother tongues. This is something for which we pay so much tribute to him – not just his contributions in academia but also as a political thinker who shaped the thinking of many African students and many indigenous communities around the world, as he taught in many universities around the world. Therefore, I pay my tribute to this great son of Kenya, an old boy of my former school, the Alliance High School. He is also a great son of the County of Kiambu and my neighbouring Constituency, Limuru. The Member for Limuru is here. I wish they will consider the cultural theatre that was at Kamirithu to be further developed into a cultural centre for Kiambu County, for our country…"
}