The Poetics of Resistance: Christopher Monyoncho’s Fight against Corruption and Abuse of Power
Abstract
In primordial Gusii cultural identity, the ills of corruption and abuse of power were unheard of. Value for life, a keen sense of justice, respect, mutual goodness with collective responsibility took centre-stage. Then came colonialism and westernisation in the first half of the twentieth century and the communal good and societal values were replaced with self-seeking individualism. Aside from the influence of westernisation and globalisation, capitalistic and paternalistic tendencies by both the so-called former colonial masters and their African successors gave birth to the monsters of corruption and abuse of power. These pushed the Ubuntu spirit into the periphery. This article uses the Benga music of Christopher Monyoncho to analyse the evident cultural identity shifts from the primordial collective societal support to a selfish and self-seeking hybrid identity. The analysis of the literariness of these poetic texts revealed the extent to which prized values of life such as mutual respect and common good which were centred on collective responsibility were watered down and metastasised into scary dragons worth slaying. Indeed, evils such as corruption, grabbing and abuse of power have spawned all over the country and Monyoncho decries such selfish endeavours in several of his popular poetry. This article therefore reads such poetry expositions as a way of laying them bare to the reading public
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