Mutunga should keep his stud even if it means losing the CJ job

By NZAU MUSAU

I have two ancestors; a man and a woman. They both had earrings and in 2003 as I prayed to them they instructed me to wear one so that they can protect me, Dr. Willy Mutunga.

IN his book Bantu Philosophy which is credited with triggering the debate on the nature of African philosophy, Belgian Catholic priest Placide Tempels made a very interesting observation about Africans.
While ministering among the Luba people of Congo DRC, Tempels noticed that even the most accomplished of African Christian converts retreated to their traditions whenever overtaken by moral lassitude, dangers or suffering.
They did so in spite of the great promise Christianity offered them leading Tempels to seek the basis upon which they did this.
Tempels arrived at the conclusion that the Luba people reverted to their traditional way of life “because their forefathers and ancestors had left them with practical solutions of the great problems of humanity; the problem of life and death, of salvation or destruction.”
“Behavior can neither be universal or permanent unless it is based upon a concatenation of ideas, a logical system of thought, a complete positive philosophy of the universe, of man and of things which surround him, of existence, of life, death and life beyond,” Tempels wrote.
This philosophy of Africans, Tempels found, lay in the bodywork of beliefs and customs held fundamentally dear to not just Lubanms but all Africans- so much so that even a fully westernized and learned person like Dr. Willy Mutunga would relate with his ancestors and make no apology of it.
Upon further examination, Tempels found out that the African behavior and practices centred on the single value of vital force and the relation with forces starting with the highest, God. The forces descend in hierarchical structure from God, to ancestors, to living beings, to animals, to plants and to the inorganic matter.
To an African mind, these forces are interdependent, reinforcing and corresponding in reverence. Ancestors are very important to Africans because according to our philosophy, they can strengthen or enfeeble us. And so are animals, plants and fellow beings.
The most important part of this philosophy is its place in developing the moral and legal rules we so hold dear as well as an objective jurisprudence. Using the relation of the hierarchical forces, what is “good” and “right” is clearly set apart and corresponding consequences apparent.
Any African who comprehends this can only do what is good. True knowledge or wisdom in this context is therefore the knowledge and appreciation of the various forces, their hierarchical ordering, interaction and resultant effects.
In African thought, Dr. Mutunga must necessarily be a wise man because he appears to appreciate the forces and more particularly the place of ancestors in his life, his western education and conditioning notwithstanding.
In endorsing him, Prof. Yash Ghai had this to say: “He has a particular commitment to developing modes of analysis which are deeply rooted in African realities. He has humanistic politics and social justice but without rancor and with modesty.”
Many other people attest to his impeccable values which I here submit is embedded in African philosophy and only polished by his Western intellectual conditioning. If it is honesty, Dr. Mutunga is honest because it is in his best interests and the interests of other “forces” around him to be honest.
It is not to please some cultural apostates- as Okot p’Bitek called them- like William Ruto, who play culturally convenient when it suits them. One time they are seated on three-legged stools being “blessed” by elders and another time they are ridiculing African “spirits” in Christian crusades.
And if Dr. Mutunga is wrong to relate with spirits of his dead ancestors, why is Ruto and other Christians right to relate with spirits of Jesus of Nazareth who died more than 2000 years ago in Calvary?
But Mutunga is not about to budge. He is ready to honor his ancestors with the ear stud and lose the CJ- which is an offer for service anyway. This is because he knows where proper value lies between cowing to cultural apostates and honoring his ancestors. He is wise!
But ancestor’s honor aside, Dr. Mutunga’s ear stud is even more important for another reason. In an era of seemingly still-born African renaissance, culturally-blended minds assuming leadership roles is very crucial.
Like argued before, most Africans still hold certain values very dear in spite of Western influence. These are the very people African leaders- political, spiritual or otherwise are supposed to lead. The success of their leadership is much dependent on how they appreciate their ways and relate to them.
This is on top of the reality of a modern nation-state modeled in Western form. Dr. Mutunga is therefore fine, unapologetic blend and antithesis for apostates who seek to lose us in the ensuing confusion of our own identities.
If it eventually boils down to between choosing between the CJ job and keeping his earring, Mutunga should choose the latter else he will be punished severely by the very ancestors who bid him spot it.