Hate song “Ikamba” attacks a community

A new Gikuyu language song titled “Ikamba” is circulating on social media since last week. The video has sparked public outrage.

The creators of the song, depict the Akamba community in terms that are inciteful and demeaning. The relationship between Akamba and Kikuyu has died, the artists sing. Akamba people have betrayed the Kikuyu…They are untrustworthy, useless people, witches. They are poor because they are lazy, surviving on mangoes in a dry land; when there will be no more mangoes they will eat dogs or wild birds…

Aagh!

The immediate context of this song is the ban on charcoal burning and sand harvesting in Kitui County by Governor Charity Ngilu.  Following the order, a lorry transporting charcoal from the county weeks ago was burnt allegedly by residents heeding their governor’s ban. That incident sparked a day-long protest in Limuru, Kiambu County.  Kiambu  County Governor Fredinand Waitutu, who is praised in the “Ikamba” song while Ngilu is demonized, has sued his Kitui counterpart for hate speech against the Kikuyu community.

In political terms, the broader context of the song is the perception that the Akamba are anti-government as they largely supported the NASA coalition in the 2017 general election. Kikuyuland is a Jubilee stronghold.

Those who have publicly condemned the song point out, correctly,  that the inflammatory lyrics are likely to ignite ethnic animosity. Already social media is awash with hostile exchanges between members of the two communities cited in the song.

Strangely, the Kikuyu elite is loudly silent on this grave issue. We wonder why.

In his book, Artist The Ruler (1986, Nairobi: EAEP) the African philosopher, Ugandan-born Okot p’Bitek, tries to puzzle out this question: Where do the thoughts and actions which comprise a people’s philosophy of life come from? Put differently, what’s the origin of a community’s fundamental ideas that form their collective outlook? “Who creates the worldview that dominates the behaviour of a whole people for generations, which form the basis of moral as well as aesthetic judgment, who produces them?” p’Bitek wonders.

His answer deserves quoting at length:

“I believe that a thought system of a people is created by the most powerful, sensitive and imaginative minds that that society has produced: these are the few men and women, the supreme artists, the imaginative creators of their time, who create the consciousness of their time. They respond deeply and intuitively to what’s happening, what has happened and what will happen. Their response is expressed, not in the form of abstract philosophical treatises, not in the form of legislations or decrees or the law as laid down by judges…

 “The artist proclaims the laws but expresses them in the most indirect language: through metaphor and symbol, in image and fable. He sings and dances his laws. It is taught, not in the school of law, not in the inns of court, but around the evening fire where elephants and hares act as men. The body movement, the painting, the sculptures are his law books. The drums, the flutes, the horns, the strumming and plucking on the strings of the musical instruments, are the proclamations of his decrees. He lures his subjects by the sweetness of his song and the beauty of his works. He punishes the culprits with laughter and awards the good mannered with praises…”

Art is a powerful medium of expression, which is why Okot p’Bitek calls the artist “the ruler”. If the philosopher is right, then there are two points to consider. One, “Ikamba” has a huge potential of influencing Kikuyu outlook on the Akamba. The song instigates its target audience to hate Akamba people. These two communities are neighbours. In a country where negative ethnicity is a monstrous threat to national cohesion there is no guessing the amount of damage the song is doing.

The other point is the social location of the singers . Artists don’t create their work in a vacuum. In p’Bitek’s analysis, they are located among their own people whom they address through their work. At the same time, artists are the product of their community. “They respond deeply and intuitively to what’s happening” around them, according to p’Bitek.

It is arguable that Isaiah and Waharaka appear to be pushing a certain supremacist narrative that has already taken root in their community. The duo has merely deployed their talent to articulate an existing view. That is very worrying.

The National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) has intervened and one of the artists will be taken to court.

“Ikamba” is an abominable piece of art that purveys hate. It should be taken down from all media platforms forthwith.

See you Monday!