Association of Concerned African Scholars
January 14, 2005
Dear Friends,
As you may already know, world renowned Kenyan playwright, novelist and social critic Ngugi Wa Thiong’o and his wife Njeeri Wa Ngugi were brutally attacked on August 11, 2003 in an apartment in Nairobi, Kenya. Ngugi was severely beaten and burned with cigarettes, and his wife, Njeeri, was raped in the ordeal.
Subsequently, several people were arrested in conjunction with the attack, and it is becoming increasingly clear that this was a politically motivated assault on a leading international intellectual and his wife. It was the first time that Ngugi had returned to his home country after 22 years of political exile.
We are writing to ask you to take a few minutes of your time to send a letter to the addresses appended below to encourage the Kenyan courts and government to take this attack seriously, and to prosecute not only the direct attackers, but all those involved in the attack. This is not only an issue of paramount importance for political liberties and the rights of intellectuals. It is also a critical test case for overcoming a culture of silence and impunity surrounding violence against women in Kenya (and, in many ways, the world at large).
We have included a letter, both in the body of this mail and as an attachment, that exemplifies the spirit of the pressure that we believe it is necessary to put on the Kenyan government to insure that these attacks are treated in the most appropriate and deliberate matter. We fear that without this pressure, the political forces behind this attack may go unpunished, and the issue of rape glossed over. A letter of any length, either in your own words or borrowing from the language of the one included here, would make an immense difference. Please send your letters to as many of the appended addresses as you wish and also forward our call to others who might want to join our efforts. If the Kenyan government in compelled to see the overall importance of this trial, we will win an overwhelming victory in our struggle against violence against women and for the rights of public intellectuals. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Gabriele Schwab
On behalf of The Ngugi and Njeeri Solidarity Committee
Board Members:
Gabriele Schwab, Chair
Chancellor’s Professor of English and Comparative Literature
University of California-Irvine
E. Ann Kaplan,
Professor of English and Comparative Literature and
Director of the Humanities Center at SUNY Stony-Brook
Simon J. Ortiz,
Poet and Writer,
Professor of Native American Studies and Creative Writing,
University of Toronto
Manuel Schwab,
Writer
Gayatri Spivak,
Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities
Director, Center for Comparative Literature and Society,
Columbia University
Please forward additional copies of the letters you send to ngugisolidarity@gmail.com for our records.
Please write to one or more of the following contacts:
1. Kiraitu Murungi
Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs
State Law Office, Harambee Avenue
P O Box 40112,
Nairobi
Tel: +254 20 227461
Minister’s email: minister-justice@skyweb.co.ke
Permanent Secretary: Dorothy Angote
PS Justice & Constitutional Affairs
Please use fax: 254 20 316317
psjustice@africaonline.co.ke
2. Attorney General
State Law Office
P O Box 40112-00100, Nairobi
Tel: 254 20 227411
no email address.
Please use fax: 254 20 315105
3. First Lady Lucy Kibaki
State House
P O Box 40530-00100, Nairobi
Tel: +254 20 227436
oafla@statehousekenya.co.ke
4. John Githongo
State House
P O Box 40530-00100, Nairobi
Tel: +254 20 227436
contact@statehousekenya.co.ke
5. Office of President
State House
P O Box 30510-00200, Nairobi
Tel: +254 20 227411
pps@statehousekenya.co.ke
6. Hon. Ayang Nyong’o, Minister
Ministry of Planning & National Development
Treasury Building
P O Box 30007-00100, Nairobi
Tel: +254 20 252299
mopnd@treasury.go.ke
7. Phillip Murgor
Director of Public Prosecution
State Law Office
P O Box 40112-00100, Nairobi
Tel: 254 20 227411
no email address at DPP but personal through his law firm: murgor@nbi.ispkenya.com
Please forward a copy of all letters you send to the following addresses as well:
1. Federation of Women Lawyers Kenya
Amboseli Road off Gitanga Rd.
P.O. Box 46324 Nairobi, Kenya
info@fida.co.ke
Jane Onyango, Executive Director:
jonyango@fida.co.ke
Hellen Kwamboka
hellen@fida.co.ke
2. The Ngugi and Njeeri Solidarity Committee
ngugisolidarity@gmail.com
3. Kenya Human Rights Commission
P.O. Box 41079-00100
Nairobi, Kenya
admin@khrc.or.ke
Thank You
The Ngugi and Njeeri Solidarity Committee.
* * *
[Sample Letter]
January 14, 2005
To Whom It May Concern:
We are writing to appeal to the Kenyan government to react appropriately and with all deliberate speed to the brutal attack on Ngugi Wa Thiong’o and Njeeri Wa Ngugi and the rape of Njeeri. We write to stress the urgency of an appropriate response that will hold accountable not only the direct attackers, but all those responsible for what we see as a politically motivated attack by enemies of what Professor Ngugi Wa Thiong’o stands for in Kenya, Africa and the world.
The world community continues to watch this case closely, first and foremost because we are shocked by the brutality of this attack and rape, but also because of the grave implications impunity for the perpetrators would have. International organizations, including women’s groups, civil liberties organizations, and organizations of writers and intellectuals are but a few of the members of the international community deeply invested in how the present administration will respond to this attack.
It is critical for the Kenyan government to rebuff this grave attack against an internationally celebrated public intellectual whose commitment to his country and the empowerment of ordinary people has been unwavering. If this attack on the occasion of his first return to his home country, after 22 years in forced exile, is not condemned, and all those responsible pursued for their crimes, a chilling blow to intellectual liberty will have been dealt. Such blows have impact the world over. This one, in particular, would send a sad message regarding Kenya’s capacity to overcome its political past. This government must respond firmly to demonstrate a commitment to the political future of the country.
It is equally critical to demonstrate a willingness on the government’s part to respond to the full gravity of the rape of Njeeri Wa Ngugi. The culture of silence around violence against women in Kenya fosters repeated and widespread abuses against the human rights of women. A full length Amnesty International report on violence against women in Kenya (March 8, 2002) cites several national and international instruments that hold governments responsible for failures to prosecute with “due diligence” any violence against women. We want to express our unconditional solidarity with Njeeri Wa Ngugi in her ongoing struggle to stand publicly against the epidemic of violence against women. We believe that the government of Kenya has both the opportunity and the responsibility to meet the challenge of supporting her. This challenge consists in bringing all those responsible for this attack on Njeeri Wa Ngugi and Ngugi Wa Thiong’o to justice. But steps must also be taken to end the conditions that foster this culture of silence. Systems must be put in place, as in other countries, for women to anonymously identify their attackers. Every form of sexual violence against women must be treated as a crime of the gravest consequence. The victims cannot be left to fight alone. To that end, we hope that this administration will not set the precedent of allowing Njeeri Wa Ngugi to stand alone.
At a time like this, when we are seeing political violence erode so many countries in Europe, North America, Africa, and indeed on every continent, it is doubly important for people in positions of power to stand against the impunity of perpetrators. We hope that with your actions, you will set an example for Kenya and the world.