The death of award-winning author and LGBT activist Binyavanga Wainaina has robbed the country of a man who refused to toe the line of intellectual dishonesty and affirmed that hypocrisy looms large in the country.
Wainaina changed this perception by taking head-on these prefects of literature when he founded ‘Kwani?’ Literary Journal using the proceeds from his Caine Prize award. This bold step offered upcoming writers a platform to nurture their creativity and benefit from mentorship by established authors. In a country where material wealth is king, what many would have done with the prize money was to buy parcels of land, put up mega buildings and join the looting table in Parliament. But Wainaina believed in intellectual growth as a tool to drive social change.
He declined the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leader award in 2007, stating that he did not believe he could impact world affairs. Yet his critics, mostly out for a life like his, are out to blemish his illustrious career by casting aspersions on his sexual orientation.
They argue that homosexuality is unbiblical and unAfrican, conveniently ignoring that they are the same people who commit biblically abhorrent sins like fornication, adultery and looting. If same-sex marriages are unAfrican, so is mocking the dead the way they are doing to Binyavanga Wainaina.
The Bible is bold against judging, reserving that right to God, yet the holier-than-thou Kenyans have declared Binya sinful and themselves righteous. They also fail to grasp that in this world not everyone subscribes to your religious or cultural views.
The fact that they disagree with you does not mean that you are right and they are wrong and vice-versa.
Freelance journalist and writer
