NGUGI’S GREED CREED IN THE WIZARD.

Ngugi wa Thiong’o claims that in writing The Wizard Of The Crow, his main aim was to “Sum up Africa of the twentieth century in the context of two thousand years of world history” If that was the case, then in his book the history of Africa can be summed up in one word: Greed.

Set in the fictional Free Republic of Aburaria under the Second Ruler who is only referred to as The Ruler, the novel dramatizes the conflicts that come into play once the Ruler approaches the Global Bank to fund the building of his Babel tower, under the program of Marching to Heaven. The Ruler heads to America to seal the deal, leaving his Ministers and close associates undermining each other in the quest to position themselves for the impending gravy train. All this leads to the mistaking of Kamiti, a jobless man despite having a BA Econ and MBA from India, (degrees he earned at the expense of the family land which his parents sold to have him educated) as the fabled Wizard of the Crow who can make dreams come true. In this he gets entangled with Nyawira, and soon they find themselves on the run from Sikiokuu and in the ensuing embarrassments, are declared enemies of the state. The Ruler comes back suffering from a mysterious disease, a ‘male pregnancy’ and the Wizard is told to cure him of it. As all this plays out, Ngugi masterly takes us back and forth into the history of Aburaria from the pre colonial, colonial and post colonial present to set the socio-political and economic fabric upon which the humorous if not tragic tale is woven.

Greed leads to gullibility, and this summarises not just the major themes in the book, but of Africa and the Africans who bore resemblance to the Aburarians (buri meaning the useless in Ngugi’s native Gikuyu, hence Aburarians the Useless citizens of their own republic full of folly). There, the currency is Buri notes (useless notes that can’t buy anything unless one carries sacks and sacks of them) which everyone seems to want to die for. Once the Ministers propose to the Ruler that if they build a tower to reach Heaven his leadership shall be the most powerful in the world, He gets gullible and quickly talks with the Global Bank to fund it and sets in motion the endless gullibility that comes with the project.

It is Greed that leads to the quest for the un-achievable; a grand delusion that often ends in disappointment. It promises a glorious future that dissipates into a useless now. The major magical realism books that are similar in style to Ngugi’s all promise grand beginnings only to end up in disappointments: Culvert’s attempts at communalism in La Tour Brouyarde in A.S. Byatt’s Babel Tower, Colonel Aureilia Buendia’s escaping the curse of the pig tail and Macondo in Garcias Marquez’ 100 Years Of Solitude, Ben Okri’s ‘bad milk of politics’ in The Famished Road, Salim’s dreamy powers in Salman Rushdie’s Midnights Children etc. Hence disillusion is a major theme in such texts. It is Greed that leads to all the daemons in Wizard of the crow: the queuing daemons, power daemons, female daemons, bearded daemons and all maladies of the Ruler.

Fueled by the achieving the unachievable so as to be great, greed for power leads to paranoia. States and its agents want to exhibit power, suspicions abound, both true and unfounded. Greed for power and its trappings breed paranoia which grips the state and populace as they imagine and chase daemons i.e. wizard of the crow. Silver Sikiokuu’s greed to be in the inner circle closest to the president made him go and have his ears enlarged so he can hear even the faintest whispers plotting against his Ruler. He ends up being an absorber of everything audio, including unfounded rumours like students sabotaging events with snakes, and about the wizard. Machokali went to have his eyes enlarged so that he can see anyone planning the demise of the Ruler, ending up with a grotesque face. Even Njoya panics when Tajirika uses Coup de tat as an allegory. Tajirika says he imagines people envying him due to his money. Sikiokuu threads together unrelated words from Tajirika’s taped conversations to conclude that a coup is on the offing. He further becomes paranoid by taking the names of Julius Ceaser Big Ben Mambo and drawing links through his name to suggest power hungry coup plotter as his names bear traces of Ancient Rome and Imperial London.

Greed leads to selfish egos, elevating oneself to imaginary states of importance and titles. This leads to sycophancy as the others recognize the vanity of such greedy people, and in their own greed to benefit from the powerful, chant praises ever so often so that they can be paid to keep on singing them. The ruler proclaiming his tigritude in statues of him as a lion and other cat animals in the paradise hotel seven star hotel shows his Self centeredness. The Ruler decrees children should learn things relating to him. Geography means reading of countries he has visited or intends to visit. Other subjects include Rulers philosophy, Ruler’s maths, with the decree that all books have to carry the Ruler’s name as the original author. The Ruler yearns for world attention and when told he won’t get Americans to give him a state reception and that he can’t appear on America’s Global News Network (GNN) in the Channel’s ‘Global Luminaries and Visionaries’ as well as ‘Meet the Global Mighty’ he rants and develops his amazing disease.

Paranoia where beneficiaries of power fear ever loosing their nearness to it leads to sycophancy. Sycophancy is a major past time of choice for the characters who populate the novel. The Ruler talks nonstop for 7 days, 7 hours, 7 mins, 7 secs to his ministers who clap and yell themselves hoarse “Give us More!” till they are numb! Sikiokuu and Machokali always try to out do each other in chanting praises to the Ruler. When Arigaigai the police constable becomes paranoid and ‘discovers’ Kamiti as the Wizard of the crow, he outdoes himself in praising the man and his feats.

This means that the root cause of dictatorial regimes is greed, greed for power, for money and for status. The dictatorial regimes of African leaders stem from this yearnings, and the intellectuals become cowed into silence like Prof Materu the Aburarian historian who had been arrested for 10 ½ years for writing about the Aburarian independence and forgetting to mention the Ruler as one of the freedom fighters.

Fear that one won’t get what they greedily want leads to superstitions: your mind absorbs all phenomena indiscriminately, and tries to find logic in them. Since there are none, you use magic as the link to their presence in your brain. This leads to gullibility, translating to absurdity. Constable Arigaigai Gathere’s lack of clear vision in the dark and his lack of speed, the presence of bones and dead cockroaches, and the fact his boss wasn’t even angry when he came in late to job having delayed at Kamiti’s, plus the death of his fellow competing cops in and accident makes him conclude that the Magic of Kamiti has worked and hence he is the wizard of the crow. This single event is the one that makes the novel possible, elevating Kamiti from a starving vagabond dumped at the dumpsite to a main protagonist in the novel whom everyone thinks is a miracle worker, and either wants to befriend so as to gain wealth or wants to get rid off to protect their power status. Greed drives gullible people like Tajirika and the Ruler to the Wizard of the crow to have themselves and their property protected. Somehow Kamiti the wizard reminds of the Ugandan rebels Alice Lakwena and Kony. Dictatorships (greed of power) led to their powerful lies, branding themselves people peddling hope and solutions to a superstitious people.

Greed leads to political assassinations. Aburaria feeds the vanity of its Ruler and his accomplices ushering in he era of Self induced Disappearances (SID), assassinations, and court martials. Only after seven days of Machokali’s disappearance did the government officially announce he, the Minster for Foreign Affairs is missing. This was soon after the American Ambassador had hinted he could lead the country after the Ruler retires. (Remember the assassination of Robert Ouko our Minister for Foreign Affairs so soon after a trip to America where some hailed him as the natural successor?). The Aburarian government hints he could have fled to another country after realizing his attempts to overturn the government had been known are circulated. The disappearance of Machokali the foreign Affairs minister sparks dissent, public rallies disguised as prayer meetings which police cant break up due to Global Bank pressure.

To maintain their status quo, dictatorial regimes breed corruption and palming of hands to receive favours, creating situations where juniors become more important than seniors in administrative hierarchy. Once rumours abound that the Global Bank will fund the Marching to Heaven project, Tajirika becomes inundated with gifts. Sacks of Buri notes palm Tajirika and later Sikiokuu. Greed leads to nepotism and corruption. Vinjinai, Tajirika’s wife, is nominal founder and MD of the Mwathirika Banks, while the Rulers sons are the board of Directors. The Ruler promotes crooks leading to an inefficient administration. The more a crook you are, the better. Tajirika became Central Bank Governor and Minister of Finance because the Ruler discovered he is a good conman. On discovering Kaniuru’s scheming he made him the Minister for Finance and Youth, and Jane Kanyori into Comptroller of Central Bank and National Bank of Commerce and Industry. Tajirika as central bank governor proposes setting up banks to launder money and swindle money to Swiss bank accounts, creating financial scams under the Mwathirika Banks.

In such a paranoid atmosphere that dictatorial regimes operate, feeding on greed and more vanity, shapeshifting is a common strategy for survival, both of the victims and perpetrators. Nyawira is a chameleon who is a secretary one moment, then a player in the politics of poverty. Just like Sadera Munyakei in Billy Kahora’s story The True Story of David Munyakei in Kwani 3?, everyone has to pretend to be what they are not if they are to live. So are chameleons Kamiti, Nyawira, Tajirika, cops and all those who go to the wizard eg Tajirika and Kaniuru disguised as labourers having left his Benz. Ministers in the cabinet watch Sikiokuu and Machokali fight before jumping to the winning side. BigBen Mambo is an expert in this. The highlight of this is the way Machokali praises the ruler for making history as the first pregnant man courtesy of the wizard and when the ruler becomes angry he pretends he was praising him for recovering from the wizards curse!

Shapeshifting taken to the extreme can make one long to be of another race. This has led many black people wishing they were whites as they think that white means being affluent. Ngugi calls this disease ‘White ache’ which many characters fall sick of. Tajirika suffered it when he couldn’t speak saying only ‘if!’ only to discover he meant if only he were white he would be better of. Finally has one white leg and arm as the Genetica Company that was modifying him to become white went under before finishing their modifications of him into a modern American man. This made Gaciru think of her parents as ogres. Nyawira’s father had white ache too, he hated being called anything African preferring Sir Charles. Greed for colonial mentality is seen in the Wanguhu’s speaking of English idioms. If my skin was white, would the directors of the Global bank have insulted me? Asks the Ruler as he suffers his male pregnancy.

Greed is what led to colonialism. Aburarian was colonized due to its resources so that they could be taken to the imperialists countries and earn them money. As was the case of Africa, colonialism was a means of grabbing resources under the guise of civilization. Blacks were not allowed bank loans and they were denied business opportunities because Global bank executives believe ‘money is the root of more money.’ To protect their interests, the colonialists in Aburaria (you can switch this with the word Africa anytime you want) installed unpopular locals into power so as to continue raping the resources via proxies. It is this that led to the rise of the Ruler, and the political mess the country has found itself in.

Once a leader is installed by the west Neo colonialism sets in, with its indecent adoration of foreigners and lots of butt kissing. The Aburaria government in conjunction with foreign companies ‘know how to take but not how to give back to the soil’ leading to desertification in what was once paradise. Tajirika rants to the Ruler about volunteering Aburaria as the first to be wholly managed by private capital. A ‘Corporony’ where the West can run it as a corporate business and NGOs relieving the state off its social obligations and allowing the Ruler to run the country as his Real Estate. Global Financial institutions like Global Bank and Global Ministry of Finance are ‘clearly looking to privatize countries, nations and states’ arguing that the modern world was created by ‘Private capital.’ The government extracts so much from citizens and nothing in return, even the women sang ‘we expected independence to give us a cow to milk but yesterday I slept Hungry!’ Greed leads to colonialism and racism. Black has been oppressed by white, female by male, peasant by landlord, and worker by lord of capital, so says Nyawira.

International exploitation is not just economical, it is intellectual too. Dr Furyk, after Wizard unlocks the Ruler’s tongue, claims he is the curer and even patents the patient. This is a jibe at western pharmaceuticals who patent African inventions, like the recent controversy over the AIDS Vaccine tests among the Majengo Prostitutes between Nairobi University and Oxford.

Foreigners in the modern world are accused of cloaking their greed in the term ‘Democracy.’ They freeze donor funds till Aburaria government ‘ instituted economic and political reforms and took concrete steps to end inflation and corruption’ Minister Tajirika and Kaniuru after Baby D is born, go to America and talk donors into resuming leanding to Aburaria. (but note : it is exploitative, they get money to buy arms from the west, and to explore oil and natural gas and minerals in Aburaria.) During cold war the ruler was brutal, but the West were happy. Now they censor him for any violence. He questions the turn about.

Greed leads to religious hypocrisy and conflicts. Hungry to show that God is on their side, the soldiers of Christ try to hunt down the wizard. Martha and Mariko poke fun at Soldiers of Christ. They in turn crucify the duo’s cat. This led to the splinter church ‘church of Christian soldiers’. The three Christians calling themselves Sweeper-Of-Souls, Souls -Walking-Stick and Pilot-Of-Souls under the Trinity of the Holy Spirit were invited to the US, but then splintered into 3 as they argued about the nature of Satan. Religious hypocrisy is also shown when witchcraft is legalized. Church going and mosque going people rush to state house to showcase their wizardry.

Religious hypocrisy goes hand in hand with moral decadence, perverted sexual fantasies and actions. Kaniuru loves watching porn and is shown buying pornographic videos in 42^nd street. Sikiokuu panics when Kamiti ask wherever anyone else has used his mirror, he remembers women, other people’s wives he has bedded, including one girlfriend of the Ruler. The Ruler gives people jobs abroad so that he can have unfettered access to their women. He kills anyone dating his girlfriend e.g. the prominent business man who bragged of doing so. The ruler himself asks how many husbands and fathers has he humiliated by demanding their wives and daughters for sex. Ruler only takes Viagra with an insatiable appetite. Sikiokuu self confesses to having three wives, several mistresses, and talks of kinky sex though he himself pretends to be conservative. Wawira’s death and numerous graves in Kiambugi from HIV AIDS are a stark reminder of this sexual promiscuity which Ngugi unfortunately has handled in a preachy mode.

Greed leads to deception so as to cover it up. Tajirika doesn’t want to speak of his sacks of Buri, nor does Kaniuru, sikiokuu and Machokali dwell on spinning deceptions etc. deception leads to lack of trust, lack of trust to paranoia. Tajirika lying about burned dollars leading him into problems. Commissions are only put up as witch hunt. Fake reports as the ‘Kaniuru Report on the origins of the Queuing Mania and Its Possible Connection with Anti-Government Activities’ and the ‘A Secret Report on Acts of Treason’ written by John Kaniuru and Elijah Njoya & Peter Kahiga Respectively can be printed but they are smoke screens for the real culprits.

Since deceptions always get found out, the end result of greed and its servant gullibility is shame. The Ruler who regularly comes with plomp now hides under darkness as he comes from America, giving the media blackout. The Ruler had desperately wanted international press attention in USA but only got it when he came to Aburaria to confirm that he suffered bodily expansion or male pregnancy! Sikioukuu spent a whole cabinet meeting on his knees begging the Ruler, and his seeking for attention ends in shame. Kaniuru’s first ever picture in the newspapers is the humiliating fiasco of him frog marched along the streets tied with ropes, yet he had tried to be in papers as he rose through the ranks metereorically. Big Ben He always wanted to be in the army but soon got shot by the firing squad.

Greed and peoples middle-class apoliticism (seen in Vinjinia saying her perfect man is a middle class man not into anything political) leads to hanging onto power for so long even in ill health that Gemstone the American ambassador tells the Ruler to retire. The greedy people need protection on retirement, hence offers to help have laws of immunity so that his successor doesn’t prosecute him, or even arrangements made for him to relocate to another country.

Greed leads to incompentence. Sikiokuu had been left a job to do when the Ruler went to America but on coming back nothing had been done as Sikiokuu had been playing paranoid politics fed on greed. Sikiokuu has been dressing up and role playing the ruler-greed for power. Self confessedly, he says ‘we lust for power, and what power is greater than that of a supreme ruler? Similar to the Kenyan Attorney General Charles Njonjo’s decree, imagining the death of the Ruler, dream or think of it is high treason punishable by death. Sikiokuu shatters the mirror in case it has trapped his ‘seditious’ confessions.

The names of individuals denote greed in the book. The Swahili name of Police chief wonderful Tumbo translates into ‘Wonderful Big Tummy’, a greed symbol. Tajirika translated from Swahili means Mr Get Rich , which he duly is. Njoya notices how Tahirika’s hostility is abated by the food, he is a glutton.

The mirror is a tool of vanity, of greed. Where people lie to themselves rather than face the truth of their faces. It gives opportunity for one to make cosmetic changes to their faces, selves, egos, etc. No wonder then that there are numerous references of the mirror in the book, almost like in the works of Borges, and Kamiti the Wizard ends up crushing them into splinters.

As Kenyans should have learnt from previous multi-party elections, once we choose politicians full of greed there actually is no change, things remain the same if not worse. ‘Emperor Tajirika’ overturns the Ruler and offers continuity, only that he is even more dictatorial. He bans literature in foreign languages, makes Rulers children say their father suffered SID, pronounced the death of Baby Democracy, ordered the construction of a modern coliseum on the site once earmarked for Marching to heaven and renamed roads, buildings and institutions Imperial this and imperial that. And fed the previous regime’s people to crocodiles in the red rive.

Coups are not the cure for greed, they only breed more greed. Ask Nigeria, Sierra Leone and the African countries perennially racked by them.

Greed leads to fantasizing. No wonder the book is full of fantastical happenings, and magical realism. Greed is a prison which Kamiti frees some from ( as well as locks some tighter in) and as he asked Tajirika when in the same cell, “ from which prison do you want to free yourself? There are two: one of the mind and one of the body.” Supernatural things happen through out the book: The ruler now defies gravity and floats in the ceiling. (levitation as in Garcia’s 100 years of Solitude). The wizard seeing himself floating like a crow floating on sky is similar to Chamchawala in Salman’s Satanic Verses.. Note that all who float have seen themselves in elevated positions they are not, including Kamiti who claims to be a wizard when he is not.

Absurdity of the book reflects the absurdity of our situations full of absurdities. When the Global Bank is coming to town ‘the lame get lamer, the blind get blinder’ but when attacked by police a miracle happens, “ those with humps fled upright, the blind could see once again, the legless and armless recovered from their limbs as they scurried from the gates of paradise.

Stylistically, Ngugi has done his research well helping in characterization especially Dr Kabocha who writes to Dr Furyk and Clarkwell in medical jargon about probable causes of the rulers disease. The Rulers characterization is superb, as is that of Tajirika, Sikiokuu and Machokali.He has researched well the various religions: of Gikuyu folklore, Buddhism, Chinese Astronomy and Christianity. Operations of government and back stabbing are well researched to give the political tensions in the book more twists and turns than a bowl of spaghetti. Research has helped Ngugi nail down all problems of a 3^rd world dictator despite him having spent 24 years in exile abroad.

However, we as readers too should curtail our greed in looking for superlatives to describe the book. Anyone equating Ngugi with Salman Rushdie obviously is taking praises too far. The two have distinctive styles, with Ngugi the Marxist writer sacrificing aesthetics at several sections in the book to come out extremely preachy (subject to another analysis of this.)

“That’s the point, Mr President. Everything is upside down in your country!” Global Bank officials say to the ruler. It could as well be Ngugi telling African Leaders what their greed has led to.