Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has penned a lengthy, emotional post mourning celebrated novelist and public intellectual Prof Ngugi wa Thiong’o.
Ngugi died on Wednesday morning, May 28, 2025, aged 87, in the United States of America, where he had relocated.
In his post, Gachagua said Ngugi’s death had orphaned Africa and is a big blow to students of literature.
"If a literary genius ever lived who has inspired my world of literary language and communication, may it be the use of symbolism, figurative language, metaphors, metonymy, poetry, that genius is Prof. Ngùgì Wa Thiong’o. The African literary champion never shied from writing in his native language and his quest to tell the African story through the African lens. This inspiration lives on through works like Matigari, Ngahìka Ndeenda, Caitaani Mutharaba-Inì among others, true to African heroism," mourned Gachagua.As a bookworm, Gachagua said he enjoyed reading his works among them; Caitani Mutharaba-ini, Maitu Njugira, Ngahika Ndeenda, Mùrogi Wa Kagogo, and Petals of Blood.
In particular, he said after his impeachment in 2024, he found solace in Ngugi’s ‘A Grain of Wheat,’ book, which he said he re-read several times.
"When I left office late last year, I read and re-read his book, ‘A Grain of Wheat’. His Words, “…then nobody noticed it; but looking back, we can see that waiyaki’s blood contained within it a seed, a grain, which gave birth to a movement…” he added.
