Dikteta (2008) Euphrase Kezilahabi

Kezilahabi, Euphrase. Dhifa. Nairobi: Vide-Muwa. 2008:31.

Gaudioso, R. 2019. The voice of the text and its body. The continuous reform of Kezilahabi’s poetics. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag. p.255-257:
Not only does Kezilahabi ridicule the persona of a dictator in that poem, he
poses important questions about individual freedoms, showing in the first stanza the
repression of a dictator. But in the second stanza, the precision of his language become
quasi legal. The violated rights are a river, like in the poem Mto wa Haki (The river of
Right 1974: 17) in the Kichomi collection, to emphasize their inalienability and
relentlessness. If rights are natural like a river, that means they are inalienable from the
individual. This is also evident in the poem Wimbo wa Unyago (2008b: 17): hiari ni haki
asilia/achuguaje embe bichi/ajua lini litaiva (volition is the origin of right/who chooses an
unripe mango, knows when it will be ripen). Hence, rights are inalienable and the will
inviolable, but at the same time these rights are a river, which flows relentlessly. So, here,
Kezilahabi emphasises his idea of progress, in our interview, too (Gaborone 2015), he
told me that these rights enact relentless progress, which neither people nor dictators
can stop. In the poem Dikteta, dictators are not only African. What we read is strange:
the poem seems to describe the action of a dictator after many years of his authority, so
why should this dictator violate laws? A dictator does not need to violate them, he can
change them. In terms of the State of rights (Rechsstaat), the state that cannot respect its
own law, its own rights, ceases to be. So, Kezilahabi discusses the basis of dictatorship
and the democratic state, pushing people to be aware about their rights and freedoms.
Kezilahabi, in fact, not only defends generic freedom or democracy, but the righteous life that is needed for freedom, democracy and the life itself of citizens.A similar
position was expressed by Julius Nyerere after his mandate:
Maendeleo hayana budi yawe na uhusiano na watu, hayana budi uyapime umefanya nini kwa watu [...] Kama ni people centre huwezi kutaja kwamba wanashiba sana (kushiba ni kitu kizuri) ama wanavaa vizuri, lazima utaje elimu yao, afya yao, usafiri wao, lakini tutaje pia utamaduni wao, tutaje vilevile mambo ya uhuru wao: democracy. Kama kuna maendeleo watu wana uhuru. Siku hizi tunabishanabishana na mambo ya democracy. Lakini tunachobishana sio democracy, ila juu ya mambo mengine, hatubishani kuhusu democracy yenyewe. Tunabishanabishana juu ya misimamo ya kijingajinga, lakini juu ya uhuru wa watu hatuwezi kubishana. Watu hawawezi kusema wana maendeleo na katika nchi yao hawawezi kutembea kwa uhuru, wanaogopa, wana hofu, wanadhani asubuhi yoyote wakisikia mtu mlangoni kwakwakwa wanafikiri akaja mtu anawapeleka kufunga. Nchi ya namna hiyo haiwezi kusema ina maendeleo, nchi haina uhuru wa watu. [...] Katika mambo ya kuheshimu haki za binadamu pamoja na kwamba nchi zetu hizi ni nchi ambazo zimepigania uhuru kwa kutaka kuleta haki za binadamu, lakini, kwa kweli, katika jambo la democracy hatuwezi kujivuna sana. Nchi ya kusini, tumepuuza sana haki za binadamu. Madikteta wengi sasa hivi ni ya kwetu, ndiyo madikteta wengi wa duniani sasa hivi ni ya kwetu, wapo katika Africa, Asia, Latin America. Na sasa kusema kweli wanaanza kubakia Afrika zaidi. Kupuuzapuuza tu maisha ya watu hivi, oneaonea watu tu, kutojalijali watu hivi, tabia za namna hii zipo zaidi kwetu katika kusini.
For Nyerere, as for Kezilahabi, the righteous life is needed for freedom and the develop-
ment of democracy. Nyerere clearly connects democracy with freedom and human
rights. He claims that African States are delaying to develop this aspect, emphasising
also the contradiction of fighting for national independence, but not for freedom of
citizens. In this way, he criticizes himself and his past government. Moreover, he explicitly accuses many African leaders of being dictators. Kezilahabi in his PhD disser-
tation is in agreement with Nyerere, furthermore, Kezilahabi talks about the tactics used
by African leaders in the building of their authority (1985: 357-358):
We have noted that through the glorification of illusory traditional qualities of African
society, our leaders create mythologies of a magnificent past and refuse to confront those
very institutions which are by their nature retrogressive.
Kezilahabi, like Nyerere, defends freedom of thought and expression, as seen in the
third chapter through the poem Dakika 15 za Uzalendo (15 minutes of Patriotism 1974:
51), where Kezilahabi criticizes the soldier (thus the use of authority), who wants to
investigate the mind and words of two citizens, which, as seen in the first and third
chapters, is a criticism of the negation of freedom.

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