By Albert Nyakundi Amenya aka Banana Peddler
I have seen people drench the late Benga Kikuyu musician Mr John Ng’ang’a aka John DeMathew with water of accolades owing to his musical prowess. I have said before in this space that I unpretentiously speak up my mind.
Sincerely, I am not a fan of Kikuyu music and I have never liked it. I don’t know any of De’Mathew music but those who know him say he was a great musician who took after the late Kamaru.
Death is a necessary end, it will come when it will come. We all owe death a debt. But when death prowls , let us say the truth about the deceased.
Personally, I refuse to mourn this man because he was one of those Kikuyu tribal musicians who once hurt my feelings when he sang a hate song against my then favorite Presidential aspirant Raila Odinga and LUOS. Because I did not like him when he was alive, I will not pretend to like him because he is dead.
Not long ago, this man was charged in court for producing a song that bordered on hate speech against the former Prime Minister Raila Odinga but was later acquited by ‘his sister’ principal magistrate ELENA NDERITU for ‘LACK OF ENOUGH EVIDENCE’
In his song ‘Wituete Hiti’, translated to mean, ‘You have made yourself a Hyena’ the man had the audacity to call BAABA a NYANGAU or FISI.
He was charged alongside two other tribal musicians Muigai Wa Njoroge and Kamande Wa Kioi whose cases were dropped after ‘striking a deal with the NCIC’ instead of getting jail terms.
Sadly though, although he died after the HANDSHAKE, the man expired without repenting and apologising to RAILA and LUOS. That is why I refuse to mourn him. If I do, I’ll be pretending by sending fake condolences. Also, I gather the people of Nyeri disliked him because he said in one of his songs that leadership will NEVER cross River Channia and that if that happens, there will be untold consequences.
Long story short, man should beware of the burdens of history after death. History is bunk. It is also a no respecter of anyone. When man refuse to learn from the ugly history, man is doomed to repeat it. Ugly history is hard, if not impossible to rewrite. If you have no respect for other while you are still alive, you cannot demand respect from others when you are dead.
For those who loved De’Mathew, I know you are not happy with this post. I wish you well nonetheless. But remember I always voice my opinions freely and I grant that every human has inalienable right to freedom of speech and expression. However, I always strive to get my facts right before venturing to put pen on paper. My readers will agree with me that most of my posts are never complete without buttressing them with facts and figures where necessary.
In fact, I know everybody cannot be like me the same way I cannot be like everybody. As a writer and journalist, I admire other writers who differ with me and I read their works because as they say,’’ iron sharpeneth iron so a man the countenance of his friend.’’
Have a great day ahead comrades.
(albertamenya@yahoo.com)
The writer sells Bananas in the streets of Kisii Town)
Leave a Reply