Colonization took Africans through inhuman conditions that resulted in long-term economic, political, mental, and psychological effects, what many scholars refer to as colonial legacies. Thiong’o and Mugo are accurate to mention that the conditions which Kimathi went through can be considered both literal and representative of the mental and psychological imprisonment in the sense that justice was never administered in the right way. In other words, the criminal justice system that many African nationalists and freedom fighters confronted was simply a form of discipline that colonialists applied in taming their behaviours, as they were reluctant to surrender power to the locals.
Many authors avoid writing on colonialism because of the many injustices that the colonial administrations were associated with while some individuals view it as something unavoidable that played a critical role in transforming the African continent. For Marxists, Europe was able to achieve its economic and political interests through oppression and depriving the African content of its opportunities. Even though many people do not talk about the psychological effects of colonialism, the play and the writings of Ngugi wa Thiong’o can be applied successfully in identifying some of these effects. Colonization continues to shape the behaviour of African states in the global society in the sense that their socio-economic and political policies are tied to those of the west. Scholars pay attention to the economic and political consequences of white rule in Africa, but the unseen psychological impacts are rarely addressed.
Kimathi’s imprisonment can be termed as literal oppression because blacks have never been recognized as genuine actors in the international system. Colonization demoralized Africans to the extent of losing hope with life whereby they consider the white race the most powerful in the world, which is not the case. The current problems facing the continent as regards to economic development are attributable to colonization. Unlike in the Ancient continent, colonization in Africa employed the most brutal techniques, which left Africans psychologically wounded. Many Asian countries have been able to take off economically given the fact they are currently the countries experiencing high rates of economic development as opposed to any other in various continents. An Asian tiger is a term used to refer to the emergence of states in the region, and these countries include Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and South Korea. In the country, which Kimathi came from, development is still a dream for many since the government inherited a defective system that aimed at benefiting only foreigners meaning that the gap was simply filled by the powerful individuals commonly referred to as comprador-bourgeoisie who represent the real bourgeoisie in the west.
The economic policies adopted after independence were drafted by the western powers, yet African leaders had great ideas on how the continent was to be developed, which means that Africans have consistently suffered from the inferiority complex. Forcing Africans to accept the western models of administration is literal oppression in the sense that it does not fulfil their interests. Drawing an example from the play and the writings, Dedan Kimathi was accused falsely in possessing a weapon, which was against the law. Based on this, he was supposed to be jailed without necessarily providing evidence, something that cannot happen in the western countries (Thiong’o and Mugo 6). If indeed he possessed the weapon illegally, the government was supposed to assess whether the revolver was used to harm someone. Many colonialists were in possession of weapons illegally, but the government never thought of taking any action, meaning that the law applied to Africans only.
Works Cited
Thiong’o, Ngugi and Micere G. Mugo. Drama, law, and justice: the making of the trial of Dedan Kimathi. The international studies public forum, 2.1 (2013): 1-15. Print.
Thiong’o, Ngugi and Micere G. Mugo. The trial of Dedan Kimathi. Nairobi: Waveland Press, 2013. Print.