“How my father physically abused my late mother” – Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s son

The acclaimed author’s son expressed the pain of witnessing his mother being systematically erased from Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s story.
ByOnu Stephen March 13, 2024 Reading Time: 2 mins read
Famous Kenyan-American writer Mukoma Ngugi has accused his father, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, award-winning Kenyan author and academic, of physically abusing and silencing his late mother, Nyambura.
The Associate Professor of Literature at Cornell University, U.S., shared a newspaper article about his late mother on Tuesday, exposing his father’s alleged abuse.
Kenyan media outlets say much of Nyambura’s life story was overshadowed by her more famous husband whom she married in 1961.
According to authorscalendar.info, over the next seventeen years, his first wife, Nyambura, gave birth to six children.
Mr Mukoma expressed the pain of witnessing his mother being systematically erased from Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s story.
In X’s (Twitter) post, he wrote, “My father @NgugiWaThiongo physically abused my late mother – he would beat her up. Some of my earliest memories are of me going to visit her at my grandmother’s where she would seek refuge. But with that said, it is the silencing of who she was that gets me. Ok- I have said it.
This shocking revelation has shed light on the private life of Thiong’o, a celebrated writer, playwright, and scholar often regarded as East Africa’s leading novelist.
Mr Mukoma revealed that some of his earliest memories involve visiting his mother at his grandmother’s house, where she sought refuge from the alleged abuse.
It isn’t the first time Mr Mukoma has made such a distressing revelation about his father, Mr Thiong’o.
In 2022, he took to Twitter to express his dismay about Nyambura, his late mum, being systematically erased from Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s narrative.
His post from 2022 reads, “It hurts to see my late mother, Nyambura (my daughter is named after her) being systemically erased from the @NgugiWaThiongo_ story. We literally (of course) and figuratively would not be here if it was not for her keeping us glued together through the political persecutions.”

Ngugi Wa Thiong’o
Mr Thiong’o, who is not only a renowned writer but also an activist and Nyambura have six children: Thiong’o, Kimunya, Nduchu, Mukoma, Wanjiku and Njoki.
However, his political activism in Kenya led to the collapse of his first marriage, as he was arrested several
Nyambura died in 1995, and her husband couldn’t attend her funeral as he was in exile in the United States.
The acclaimed writer and activist later married a new wife, Njeri, with whom he welcomed two children before their separation.
Mrs Njeri is the director of Human Resource Faculty and Staff Conflict Resolution Services at the University of California, Irvine, where Ngugi is a Distinguished Professor.
Thiong’o gained prominence with his debut novel, “Weep Not Child,” released in May 1964.
Despite facing imprisonment and exile due to his criticism of the dictatorial government in Kenya, he has remained an influential figure in African literature.
His work includes novels, plays, short stories, and essays, ranging from literary and social criticism to children’s literature.
He is the founder and editor of the Gikuyu-language journal Mũtĩiri. His short story, The Upright Revolution: Or Why Humans Walk Upright has been translated into 100 languages.
Source, a Kenyan online newspaper, says Ngugi, 86, is currently suffering from kidney failure and is living alone and under the care of medical personnel at his house in California, U.S.
He has to undergo kidney dialysis three times a week and he recently had surgery.