Kivutha and Nazi Kibwana host literary meet and meat in Emali

A few scores of literati and other creatives have just returned from Emali in Makueni County. They were hosted to a unique event at the residence of Prof Kivutha Kibwana, the immediate former Governor. The two-day event, comprising performances, discussions, social interactions and feasting, was called a “Meet and Meat”.

Pairs or series of words like “meet” and “meat” are called homonyms in linguistics. They sound the same but their meanings, and often spellings, are different. The mwalimu in me cannot resist the temptation to teach. Incidentally, “meet”, as a qualifier, also means “appropriate” (it is meet and just)?

So, when the literati of the incipient East African Literature, Culture and Arts Association (name still forming) wanted to have a physical and fun get-together, they dubbed it a “meet and meat”. No elaboration is required here, as we all know that a piece of roast or choma is an integral part of our social gatherings.

The people of the word decided to have their do in Ukambani, a decision that set me longing, in vain, to be the first to get there. But, as you know from common experience, wherever two or more of these people meet, you get a calabash of stories, poems, jokes and songs, and maybe a basketful of proverbs, among other verbal pyro-techniques. Moreover, most of these were not simple, shenzi wordsmiths, like me, but high-powered scholars and academics. So, there were a few sophisticated discourses as well.

My intention is not so much to narrate the details of the rare and distinguished (adimu na adhimu) meeting and meating of the creative luminaries in Emali. Our reporters have probably done a good job of that already. Rather, I would like to share with you a few of my own impressions and reflections on the event. My responses are a mixture of sentimental memories, excitement and a strong hope for the future of our creative calling.

To begin with the hosts, Prof Kivutha Kibwana and his wife Nazi have been my acquaintances since their UoN undergraduate days in the 1970s. I particularly remember a visit they paid to my school, Machakos Girls, in 1978, and they performed for us with the University’s Free Travelling Theatre, under the direction of the late John Ruganda.

We need not speculate if the intense romantic relationship between Nazi and Kivutha, about which those at the meet and meat variously commented, dates from those years. But certainly their love for theatre and the creative arts was blossoming then. For Nazi, whose stage appearances were invariably electrifying, her star had started rising even earlier when she had won the coveted Best Actress award at the Schools Drama Festival before she joined the university. That was in the class of the late Francis Imbuga, who had achieved the same feat while at Alliance.

For Kivutha Kibwana, however, the “gravitas” (seriousness) required by his law career meant that he had to mute his theatre interests. This was also the case with other colleagues in the profession, like the distinguished jurists, Steve Mwenesi, Ms Lilian Wanjira and AG Emeritus Prof Githu Muigai. But it is never too late to court the arts again, as we see in Prof Kibwana’s recent poetry publication, These Words. My Dar contemporary, former Ugandan Principal Judge, Justice James Ogola, also took to publishing poetry after retirement from the Bench.

But what seems to have most profoundly impressed the irrepressibly lively and raucous crowd at the meet and meat in Emali is what they described as Prof Kibwana’s down-to-earth humility. Those who went touring around Emali town with the Professor could not get over the easy, relaxed and friendly way he interacted with the locals. He would, they told me, even carry his own share of grocery bags from the market stalls. But that is vintage Kivutha Kibwana. Do you remember the viral photo of him with a baby strapped to his back?

Rudyard Kipling extolled the virtue of being able to walk with kings and yet “not lose the common touch”. I think that one of the qualities that make Kivutha Kibwana an undeniably effective leader is that humble flexibility. Could some of our other leaders borrow a leaf from his book?

Back to the Emali Meet and Meat, I thought that it was a tremendously ingenious and effective process of mobilising and invigorating our struggling creative community. The hafla (event) in Emali was, in fact, the culmination of our long and largely tentative individual struggles to reach out to one another and share our experiences, aspirations and challenges as we practise our arts and also pass them on to the rising generations.

There is an inherently lonely and isolating streak in all creative arts. But now with the dwindling resources in most of the institutions where we toil for our survival, that isolation is accentuated. Even the few conferences or workshops that we might pull off in our institutions mostly end up as hurried perfunctory affairs, where we rush through our joyless presentations at parallel sessions and then flee before our pennies run out.

The model of a relaxed “home” visit, like that in Emali, where like-minded people meet in a relaxed environment to renew friendships and make new ones, goes a long way towards alleviating our neuroses. Interestingly, the Meet and Meat event, which most of the participants want to make an annual fixture, started online, with something like a Whatsapp group, intended to counteract the isolation of the Covid-19 lockdowns. This is according to its initiator, the indefatigable Dr Wanjohi wa Makhoka of Kenyatta University.

The online community has grown phenomenally, and other creative members, like the superb strategist, Dr Zipporah Mutea, and her team of planners and organisers ended up directing the Kibwanas’ hospitality into the unforgettable occasion. I hear most fingers are pointing to Kampala for the next Meet and Meat of the literati.

Karibuni! But shall we live up to the warmth and joy of Emali?

- Prof Bukenya is a leading East African scholar of English and [email protected]