The serene gardens of Entim Sidai Wellness Sanctuary came alive on Wednesday with the launch of the Africa Reparations Festival “Wakati Wetu: It’s Our Time to Resist, Repair, and Reclaim” in Nairobi.
The two-day festival is Africa’s first continental festival dedicated to reparatory justice, uniting art, activism, and scholarship in a call for healing and rebirth.
The festival, spearheaded by African Futures Lab, Baraza Media Lab, AU ECOSOCC, and Reform Initiatives, brings together hundreds of artists, intellectuals, policymakers, and Pan-Africanists from across the continent.
Sponsored by the African Union, the festival seeks to reflect on the deep scars of colonialism and chart new paths towards mending and collaboration.
A Call for Reflection and Renewal
Award-winning author Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor opened the festival with a forceful keynote calling for truth and courage in confronting the wounds of history.
“Reparations is first an act of moral autopsy and secondly moral exorcism,” she stated. “There can be no healing unless one steps into the wound and names it by its full name.”
Her words echoed powerfully, warning against the use of reparations as yet another “sanitized development agenda” that does away with justice.
“Repair begins with truth,” she went on. “To peel away illusions so that what is being healed is the wound itself.”
Similarly, Politics and Governance Programme’s Dr. Kathryn Nwajiaku-Dahou referenced a proverb shared by her father to remind event-goers of an inevitability of justice:
“The cup that was meant for your lips will never pass you by.”
Justice Through Memory and Truth
Veteran lawyer and former MP Paul Muite, who is a pivotal player in the Mau Mau reparations case, urged Africans to pursue justice through keeping proper records of history.
“To win reparations, we need to start with research knowing who did what, where, and when,” he stated. “Justice begins with truth.”
He pondered the bitter irony of Kenya’s past:
“The Mau Mau war broke out because the cry for land justice was ignored. Britain responded with torture and killings and even during independence, the majority of those who took power did not care to hear anything about the freedom fighters.”
His statement awakened solemn heads from the crowd, shouldering the discourses of the day to the shoulders of responsibility in history.
Media and Memory in the Fight for Justice
In a session titled “Ubuntu: Media and Memory,” journalist Ngartia Mūrūthi highlighted the manner in which newspapers under colonialism shaped public opinion and erased African voices.
“Colonialism had to manufacture consent, so it had to create a story of an ’empty land’ awaiting settlers,” he clarified.
Media scholar Christine Mungai also added that modern-day journalists need to continue the work of repair by telling stories without fear:
“Telling uncomfortable truths takes courage. That courage is reparations.”
Art as a Healing Tool
The festival also celebrated art as resistance and rebirth. Under the banner “Confronting the Silence,” musicians, poets, and filmmakers used creative expression to reclaim African narratives.
Kenyan artist Eric Wainaina presented the opening night concert with DJ Talie, Koko Koseso, and NiK DJ. In between, short films like “If Objects Could Speak” and “How to Build a Library” explored how plundered African riches and suppressed memories still shape identity.
Festival organizer Liliane Umubyeyi, Executive Director of African Futures Lab, warned attendees that this was not one of reflection, but of rebirth:
“Justice is a political and cultural act. Our literature and arts bring back our power and our place in history to us. In fact, ni wakati wetu it’s our time.”
Looking Ahead: Defining Africa’s Future
The Africa Reparations Festival continues until Thursday, October 23, with Tax Justice, Climate Reparations, and Gendered Reparations events, and will end with a concert presented by Sitawa Namwalie and June Gachui.
As the African Union prepares to spearhead the Decade of Reparations (2026-2036), the Nairobi summit is a new chapter one where Africa does not plead for justice but dictates its own terms.
