President Kenyatta asks Ngugi wa Thiongo to return home

President Uhuru Kenyatta has asked renowned author Prof Ngugi Wa Thiong’o to return home.

Speaking when he hosted the award winning author at State House in Nairobi, the President said Kenya has changed into a land of opportunity and Kenyans with skills should return home to invest in its future.

“This is not the Kenya of yesterday, it is a Kenya that needs all your talents. It is time for you to come back and help us build the country,” said the President.

He added that the country will be stronger only when there is unity among its people and all the citizens prioritise the common good.

“We need all Kenyans to participate in improving our society because no single person or community has the answer, but as a united group we have all the answers,” he said.

On his part, Prof Ngugi said he was happy with the changes going on in the country and the democratic space existing in Kenya’s political front.

Promote Mother Tongue

Prof Ngugi said a recent encounter he had with a Kenyan delegation representing President Kenyatta in Los Angeles proved that the Government has changed in how it deals with its citizens.

“For the first time I met Government officials who were not talking down at the people but seeking out and engaging with respect,” he said.

He said the Los Angeles encounter and other experiences he has had while in Kenya has shown him that there is a changing attitude in governance.

“It is really a great feeling when you feel your Government is recognising and acknowledging you,” he said.

Prof Ngugi urged Kenyans to be united in building a stronger nation saying, “Draw from all the cultures of Kenya to build a leading nation. Nothing stops Kenya from being the leading nation in the world.”

The distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature and English at the University of California urged President Kenyatta to work on promoting local languages.

Prof Ngugi, who has advocated for vernacular languages to be taught in schools, urged the President to prohibit teachers from punishing students for speaking in mother tongue noting that such practices were inherited from the colonialists.

Other guests who accompanied Ngugi wa Thiong’o to state house include his three children who are also published writers, and officials of the East African Publishers.

Prof Ngugi and his sons presented copies of some of their books to the President as a well as a souvenir picture of founding President Jomo Kenyatta and his vice president Jaramogi Oginga Odinga painted in the 1960’s.